First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $8.82 Million Stock Position in Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 725,530 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $8,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 7.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,085,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,370,000 after buying an additional 413,493 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its position in Utz Brands by 10.8% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,131,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,043,000 after acquiring an additional 304,163 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $36,979,000 after purchasing an additional 875,847 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,022,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,480,000 after purchasing an additional 585,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,732,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,741,000 after purchasing an additional 117,009 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on UTZ. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho set a $14.00 price objective on Utz Brands in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.86.

Utz Brands Stock Down 3.2%

UTZ opened at $8.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 872.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.03. Utz Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.66 and a fifty-two week high of $14.67.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.06% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $342.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $346.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Utz Brands has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.771-0.795 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate 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 Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.063 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,500.00%.

Utz Brands Profile

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.