Mondelez International Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MDLZ)

by · The Markets Daily

Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ – Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 3,826 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 24% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,083 call options.

Insider Transactions at Mondelez International

In other news, CEO Dirk Van de Put sold 133,580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.08, for a total value of $8,559,806.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,326,488 shares in the company, valued at $85,001,351.04. This represents a 9.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDLZ. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mondelez International by 35.5% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 645 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Mondelez International by 3.5% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 5,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Mondelez International by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in Mondelez International by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 8,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC increased its stake in Mondelez International by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 20,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. 78.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mondelez International Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of MDLZ traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $61.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,639,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,392,318. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.25. Mondelez International has a 1-year low of $51.20 and a 1-year high of $66.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.39.

Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.21 billion. Mondelez International had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 8.86%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. Mondelez International has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.970-3.120 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mondelez International will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mondelez International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This is an increase from Mondelez International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Mondelez International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MDLZ. Barclays lifted their price target on Mondelez International from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Mondelez International in a research report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Mondelez International from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Freedom Capital downgraded Mondelez International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Mondelez International from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.30.

Read Our Latest Analysis on MDLZ

About Mondelez International

(Get Free Report)

Mondelez International, Inc is a global snack-food company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company develops, manufactures, markets and distributes branded snacks, including biscuits, cookies, crackers, chocolate, candy, baked snacks and powdered beverages.

Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Oreo, Ritz, Chips Ahoy!, belVita, Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Sour Patch Kids, Trident and Clif Bar. Mondelez sells its products through grocery stores, convenience stores, mass merchandisers, e-commerce platforms and other retail channels.

Mondelez was established in 2012 following the separation of Kraft Foods’ global snacks business from its North American grocery operations.

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