Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ Shares Purchased by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 725,530 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.51% of Utz Brands worth $8,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Utz Brands by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,946,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,979,000 after buying an additional 875,847 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 93.2% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,688,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,521,000 after acquiring an additional 814,555 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 40.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,022,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,480,000 after purchasing an additional 585,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,085,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,370,000 after purchasing an additional 413,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Utz Brands by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,131,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,043,000 after purchasing an additional 304,163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Trading Down 3.2%

Utz Brands stock opened at $8.72 on Wednesday. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.66 and a 52 week high of $14.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 872.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.03.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 0.06%.The company had revenue of $342.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $346.99 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. Utz Brands has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.771-0.795 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.063 per share. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 2,500.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on UTZ shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Utz Brands from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. DA Davidson set a $15.00 target price on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Utz Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.86.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc is a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of salty snack foods, offering a wide range of products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn and tortilla chips. Headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania, the company markets its snacks under several well-known brands and serves grocery, mass merchandise, club, convenience and online retailers throughout the United States.

Founded in 1921 by Bill and Salie Utz as a small country store operation, the business expanded gradually through direct delivery to local customers and sales to regional grocers.