Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ)

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 39.59% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.08.

Utz Brands Trading Up 6.2 %

Shares of UTZ opened at $15.76 on Friday. Utz Brands has a 12-month low of $11.17 and a 12-month high of $20.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $346.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $346.99 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 6.16% and a negative net margin of 1.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, major shareholder Series U. Of Um Partners, Llc sold 397,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.76, for a total value of $7,464,322.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Christina Choi sold 3,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.98, for a total transaction of $56,816.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,740 shares in the company, valued at $534,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Series U. Of Um Partners, Llc sold 397,885 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.76, for a total value of $7,464,322.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 431,151 shares of company stock worth $8,103,702 over the last quarter. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UTZ. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 3.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,466 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,422,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $914,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 446,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,437,000 after acquiring an additional 11,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.