MML Investors Services LLC Trims Stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

MML Investors Services LLC cut its stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,347 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,507 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,422,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 19.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,091,000 after purchasing an additional 235,622 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,256,000 after purchasing an additional 152,868 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the second quarter valued at $1,981,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the third quarter valued at $1,651,000. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,813,346.44. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 owned by insiders.

Utz Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $15.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.85. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $14.17 and a 52-week 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. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -82.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $365.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.98 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.061 dividend. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is -126.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UTZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.22.

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.