Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $14.33 and last traded at $14.2650, with a volume of 331926 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on UTZ. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $14.25 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays cut shares of Utz Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $14.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Stephens set a $14.25 price objective on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Utz Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $14.25 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.39.

Utz Brands Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.26 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 2.00% and a positive return on equity of 8.97%. The business had revenue of $371.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $374.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st will be given a dividend of $0.063 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is -75.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UTZ. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,183,000 after buying an additional 613,699 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,998,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,824,000 after acquiring an additional 355,460 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new stake in Utz Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $14,462,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Utz Brands by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 932,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,677,000 after acquiring an additional 80,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 61.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 937,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,421,000 after acquiring an additional 356,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc is a U.S.-based snack food manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The company produces and sells a broad range of branded salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn, pork rinds and other snack foods.

Its portfolio includes the Utz, Zapp’s, Boulder Canyon, On The Border and other regional and specialty snack brands. Utz products are sold through grocery stores, mass merchants, club retailers, convenience stores and other retail channels, as well as through e-commerce and foodservice distributors.

Founded in 1921 as a family-operated potato chip business in Hanover, Utz expanded through organic growth and acquisitions into a national snack food company.