Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases 1,939 Shares of The Marzetti Company $MZTI

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI) by 18.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,710 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,939 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Marzetti were worth $2,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MZTI. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Marzetti by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Marzetti by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 14,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Marzetti by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Marzetti by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 290,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,234,000 after buying an additional 28,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Marzetti by 89.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,277,000 after buying an additional 49,734 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MZTI. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Marzetti from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Marzetti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Marzetti in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.00.

Marzetti Stock Performance

Shares of MZTI opened at $182.60 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $175.53 and its 200 day moving average is $176.66. The Marzetti Company has a fifty-two week low of $156.14 and a fifty-two week high of $202.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Marzetti Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Marzetti’s payout ratio is currently 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.