Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Stock Short Interest Drops 37.5%

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,574,410 shares, a drop of 37.5% from the September 30th total of 7,314,025 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,942,359 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Utz Brands by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,183,000 after buying an additional 613,699 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Utz Brands by 26.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 796,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,309,000 after acquiring an additional 167,958 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its stake in Utz Brands by 195.5% during the 1st quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 849,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,728,000 after acquiring an additional 561,961 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,068,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 61.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 937,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,421,000 after purchasing an additional 356,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

NYSE UTZ traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $14.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 293,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,352,091. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.43. Utz Brands has a 52 week low of $6.78 and a 52 week high of $14.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of -43.32 and a beta of 0.72.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $371.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $374.18 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.97% and a negative net margin of 2.00%. The business’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.0630 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -75.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on UTZ. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Utz Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $14.25 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.25 target price on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stephens set a $14.25 target price on Utz Brands in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Utz Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $14.25 in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.39.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc is a U.S.-based snack food company that manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded salty snacks. Its products include potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork rinds, popcorn and other snack items sold through grocery stores, mass merchants, club stores, convenience stores and e-commerce channels.

The company’s brand portfolio includes Utz, Zapp’s, Boulder Canyon, On the Border, Golden Flake, Good Health and Hawaiian, among others.