Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI) Earns "Equal Weight" Rating from Stephens

Key Points

• Marzetti's stock (NASDAQ:MZTI) received an "equal weight" rating from Stephens, with a target price of $190.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.31% from its current price.
• Benchmark raised its price target on Marzetti shares from $185.00 to $200.00 and assigned a "buy" rating, while Wall Street Zen downgraded its rating from "buy" to "hold."
• For the latest quarter, Marzetti reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.33, exceeding expectations, and saw a revenue increase of 5% year-over-year.

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by Stephens in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens' price objective would indicate a potential upside of 4.80% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MZTI. Benchmark raised their price objective on Marzetti from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Marzetti from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two investment 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, Marzetti presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.00.

Marzetti Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ MZTI traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $181.29. 25,585 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 161,972. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.50. Marzetti has a 1-year low of $156.14 and a 1-year high of $202.63. The firm has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.43.

Marzetti (NASDAQ:MZTI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02. Marzetti had a return on equity of 18.87% and a net margin of 8.77%.The firm had revenue of $475.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $455.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marzetti will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Marzetti

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Marzetti by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 212,720 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,752,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Marzetti by 50.4% in the second quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 42,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 14,290 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of Marzetti by 0.4% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 23,587 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,075,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Marzetti by 3.0% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 29,526 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,101,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Marzetti by 11.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 163,468 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,242,000 after purchasing an additional 17,187 shares in the last quarter. 66.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.