The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI) Receives $206.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $206.00.

Several analysts recently commented on MZTI shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Marzetti in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Marzetti in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Marzetti from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd.

Institutional Trading of Marzetti

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MZTI. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marzetti by 21.2% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 873,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,890,000 after buying an additional 153,052 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the first quarter worth $10,456,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marzetti by 19,025.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 53,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,371,000 after buying an additional 53,270 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the first quarter worth $8,240,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Marzetti by 14.7% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 344,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,537,000 after buying an additional 44,279 shares during the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marzetti Stock Performance

MZTI stock opened at $164.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.75. Marzetti has a 52 week low of $156.14 and a 52 week high of $202.63.

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $475.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $455.26 million. Marzetti had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 18.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Marzetti will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Marzetti Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Marzetti’s payout ratio is 62.60%.

Marzetti Company Profile

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand.