By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Highland Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ – Free Report) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 97,109 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,429 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mondelez International were worth $5,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mondelez International by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,151,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,459,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851,247 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mondelez International by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,204,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,069,906,000 after acquiring an additional 341,203 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mondelez International by 14.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,255,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,344,894,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268,639 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Mondelez International by 2.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,215,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,268,242,000 after acquiring an additional 489,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mondelez International by 12,057.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 12,574,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,327,000 after acquiring an additional 12,470,573 shares in the last quarter. 78.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Mondelez International Stock Up 0.4 %
Shares of MDLZ opened at $57.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $76.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.54. Mondelez International, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $77.20.
Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $9.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.11 billion. Mondelez International had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 10.58%. Mondelez International’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mondelez International, Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.
Mondelez International Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Mondelez International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.
Mondelez International declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $9.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 10.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently issued reports on MDLZ. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $61.00 price objective (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Mondelez International in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Mondelez International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $62.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Mondelez International from $76.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Mondelez International in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Mondelez International from $78.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.06.
Read Our Latest Research Report on MDLZ
Mondelez International Company Profile
Mondelez International, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells snack food and beverage products in the Latin America, North America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It provides biscuits and baked snacks, including cookies, crackers, salted snacks, snack bars, and cakes and pastries; chocolates; and gums and candies, as well as various cheese and grocery, and powdered beverage products.
See Also
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