Trexquant Investment LP Lowers Stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Trexquant Investment LP lessened its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,916 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,030 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Utz Brands were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Utz Brands by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,561,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,467,000 after purchasing an additional 13,755 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,079,000 after buying an additional 1,025,656 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company's stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 4th quarter worth $258,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Utz Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 219,614 shares of the company's stock worth $3,439,000 after acquiring an additional 16,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

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Utz Brands Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of Utz Brands stock traded up $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $14.15. The stock had a trading volume of 2,088,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 852,336. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $13.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.22. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.15 and a one year high of $20.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.62, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.011 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Utz Brands's payout ratio is 133.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the firm's 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Company insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Utz Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.25.

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.