Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 52,755 Shares of Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its position in Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 158,974 shares of the company’s stock after selling 52,755 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Mondelez International were worth $9,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MDLZ. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Mondelez International by 91.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 174,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,416,000 after buying an additional 83,280 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Mondelez International by 101.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Mondelez International by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Mondelez International by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 257,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,879,000 after purchasing an additional 94,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its position in shares of Mondelez International by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 554,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,260,000 after acquiring an additional 4,453 shares in the last quarter. 78.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mondelez International Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MDLZ opened at $56.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.63. Mondelez International, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.97 and a 52-week high of $77.20.

Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ) last released its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.11 billion. Mondelez International had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mondelez International, Inc. will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Mondelez International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Mondelez International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Mondelez International announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $9.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MDLZ. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Mondelez International from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Mondelez International from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Mondelez International from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Mondelez International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $75.00 to $62.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Mondelez International from $78.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.81.

About Mondelez International

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.