Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 698,589 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $64,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 21.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,831,000 after acquiring an additional 97,767 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 56,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 11,438 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 7,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on UTZ. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.81.

Utz Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

Utz Brands stock opened at $12.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.21. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $11.53 and a one year high of $18.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.20.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.16. The firm had revenue of $352.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $345.44 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Utz Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a dividend of $0.011 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 7th. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William Jr. Werzyn purchased 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.81 per share, for a total transaction of $94,480.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,275.70. This represents a 53.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. This represents a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 17,920 shares of company stock worth $224,156. 16.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Utz Brands

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.