Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the February 28th total of 5,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 6.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,280 shares of the company's stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 95,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Utz Brands by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company's stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Utz Brands by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,678 shares of the company's stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Utz Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:UTZ traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,742,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 832,955. Utz Brands has a 1 year low of $12.71 and a 1 year high of $20.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.70 and a 200 day moving average of $15.48. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.93 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Utz Brands 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.011 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Utz Brands's payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.