Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys New Position in The Marzetti Company $MZTI

Brandes Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,809,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in Marzetti during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,118,569,000. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $367,969,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,681,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,041,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in shares of Marzetti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,355,000. Institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Marzetti Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MZTI stock opened at $109.36 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $123.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.27. The Marzetti Company has a 12 month low of $105.80 and a 12 month high of $190.96. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 0.33.

Marzetti Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Marzetti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MZTI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Marzetti from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Marzetti from $184.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Marzetti from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

About Marzetti

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.