Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in The Marzetti Company $MZTI

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ:MZTI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 93,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,399,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Marzetti during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Marzetti during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Marzetti during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Marzetti during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Marzetti in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.44% of the company’s stock.

Marzetti Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Marzetti stock opened at $115.00 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00 and a beta of 0.38. The Marzetti Company has a 52 week low of $110.31 and a 52 week high of $190.96.

Marzetti Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Marzetti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MZTI. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Marzetti from $184.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Marzetti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Marzetti from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on Marzetti from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Marzetti presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

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.