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

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,440,000 shares, a decline of 26.1% from the February 13th total of 7,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days. Approximately 7.8% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Utz Brands

In other news, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

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

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UTZ. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective 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. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered 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, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Utz Brands Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE UTZ traded up $0.10 during trading on Thursday, reaching $13.65. 1,201,716 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 784,942. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. Utz Brands has a 1 year low of $12.71 and a 1 year high of $20.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $349.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.