Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,548,231 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 47,320 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.10% of Utz Brands worth $27,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $80,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the third quarter valued at $142,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the second quarter valued at about $185,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Utz Brands in the second quarter worth about $187,000. Finally, Choreo LLC bought a new position in Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $195,000. Institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Utz Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Utz Brands stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 539,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 741,510. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.17 and a 1-year high of $20.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.83. 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 company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -81.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands's payout ratio is currently -126.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Utz Brands

In related news, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total transaction of $519,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 451,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,813,346.44. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total value of $48,678,335.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 496,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. This represents a 85.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UTZ. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.22.

Utz Brands Company 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.