Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 225,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,336,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its position in Utz Brands by 194.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 2,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Utz Brands by 431.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 118.5% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 76.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ stock opened at $7.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of -74.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.61 and a 200-day moving average of $9.06. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.92 and a 12-month high of $14.67.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $361.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.77 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.61% and a negative net margin of 0.58%.Utz Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. Utz Brands has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.771-0.795 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 13th were issued a $0.063 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 13th. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is -250.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Utz Brands from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $15.00 price objective on Utz Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Utz Brands from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Utz Brands from $10.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.06.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc is a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of salty snack foods, offering a wide range of products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn and tortilla chips. Headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania, the company markets its snacks under several well-known brands and serves grocery, mass merchandise, club, convenience and online retailers throughout the United States.

Founded in 1921 by Bill and Salie Utz as a small country store operation, the business expanded gradually through direct delivery to local customers and sales to regional grocers.