Natixis Advisors LLC Invests $602,000 in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 42,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,564,000 after purchasing an additional 620,196 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,376,000 after acquiring an additional 698,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 0.9% in 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. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,531,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,570,000 after acquiring an additional 252,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,520,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,412,000 after acquiring an additional 22,364 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UTZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.29.

Utz Brands Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:UTZ opened at $12.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.17. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $11.53 and a one year high of $18.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.37.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $366.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 1.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.061 dividend. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

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.