New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys New Stake in The Marzetti Company $MZTI

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake of 20,324 shares (~$3.34M) in The Marzetti Company in Q4, and other institutions also increased positions, leaving hedge funds and institutional investors with about 66.44% ownership.
• Analyst sentiment is largely a Hold (consensus price target $169.33) after several downgrades and lowered price targets from firms including DA Davidson and Stephens.
• Marzetti missed Q4 EPS ($2.15 vs. $2.23 expected) while revenue rose 1.7% year-over-year; the company pays a $1.00 quarterly dividend (3.4% yield) and trades around $116.96 with a $3.21B market cap.

New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,342,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of Marzetti as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new position in shares of Marzetti in the fourth quarter valued at $4,014,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marzetti in the fourth quarter valued at $2,226,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in shares of Marzetti in the fourth quarter valued at $43,355,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in shares of Marzetti in the fourth quarter valued at $1,118,569,000. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in shares of Marzetti in the fourth quarter valued at $598,000. 66.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MZTI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Marzetti from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Marzetti from $184.00 to $168.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Marzetti in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Marzetti from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $169.33.

Marzetti Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:MZTI opened at $116.96 on Friday. The Marzetti Company has a twelve month low of $111.04 and a twelve month high of $190.96. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.73.

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.23 by ($0.08). Marzetti had a return on equity of 18.12% and a net margin of 9.06%.The business had revenue of $509.77 million for the quarter. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Marzetti Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Marzetti's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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