JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,923,292 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 5.62% of Utz Brands worth $124,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UTZ. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Utz Brands by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,117,478 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,820,000 after buying an additional 59,429 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Utz Brands by 9.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,256,000 after buying an additional 152,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 3.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company's stock worth $27,409,000 after purchasing an additional 47,320 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Utz Brands by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510,472 shares of the company's stock worth $23,654,000 after buying an additional 36,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in Utz Brands by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 885,316 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,422,000 after purchasing an additional 30,156 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on UTZ shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Utz Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Utz Brands Price Performance

UTZ stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $14.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,742,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 832,955. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.71 and a 1-year high of $20.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.46.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.011 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In related news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at $3,762,722.64. This represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

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.