Marshall Wace LLP Has $4.81 Million Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Marshall Wace LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 69.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 307,332 shares of the company's stock after selling 682,948 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.22% of Utz Brands worth $4,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in UTZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,656 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,117,478 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,820,000 after acquiring an additional 59,429 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,561,986 shares of the company's stock worth $24,467,000 after acquiring an additional 13,755 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Utz Brands by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510,472 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,654,000 after purchasing an additional 36,425 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 885,316 shares of the company's stock worth $13,422,000 after purchasing an additional 30,156 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. TD Cowen downgraded Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research 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 on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.56.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ traded up $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.38. The stock had a trading volume of 330,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,573. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.15 and a one year high of $20.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.14, a P/E/G 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 (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The firm had revenue of $341.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $349.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Utz Brands's payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other news, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Utz Brands 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.