Insider Buying: Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Director Buys $335,915.00 in Stock

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Director Dylan Lissette purchased 31,750 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.58 per share, with a total value of $335,915.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 145,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,542,384.14. This represents a 27.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ stock opened at $10.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.22. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $10.06 and a one year high of $17.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.31 and its 200 day moving average is $12.88.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Utz Brands had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.12%. The firm had revenue of $377.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $374.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.824-0.847 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on UTZ shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $16.00 price target on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Friday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the first quarter worth about $196,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,439,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,753,000 after acquiring an additional 501,374 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Utz Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $602,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Utz Brands by 38.0% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,671,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560,884 shares during the period. Finally, Astra Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,155,000. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp’s, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc.