At a glance
The Marzetti Company is worth $2.96B, about 16 times its fiscal 2026 earnings. Revenue grew 1.1% to $1.93B in fiscal 2026, with 9.9% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 5.6% a year. It pays a 3.69% dividend yield, raised every year for at least 9 years, and returned $558.0M to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2022–FY2026. The stock returned −31.4% over the past year with dividends reinvested, against +11.5% for the S&P 500.
The business in plain English
The Marzetti Company, known as Lancaster Colony Corporation until June 2025, makes and markets specialty foods: salad dressings, sauces, dips, croutons and frozen breads. Its customers are grocery stores and restaurant chains, mostly in the United States. It reaches them through its own sales staff, food brokers (independent sales agents) and distributors. Most products are made in its 13 US plants.
The Retail segment supplies grocers and mass merchants. It brought in $1.0 billion, or 52% of the $1.93 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026. Its own brands include Marzetti dressings and dips, Sister Schubert's rolls, New York Bakery garlic bread, Cardini's and Girard's dressings, and Bachan's Japanese barbecue sauce. It also puts restaurant brands on store shelves under license agreements, which let it use another company's name. These include Chick-fil-A sauces, Olive Garden dressings and Texas Roadhouse rolls. Walmart alone accounted for 18% of total company sales.
Foodservice, the other 48% ($927 million), mainly supplies custom-made dressings, sauces and frozen breads. Most of it is private label: made for national restaurant chains and sold under the chain's name rather than Marzetti's, often delivered by distributors. Foodservice dressings and sauces were the largest product group, at 35% of company sales. Counting both segments, Chick-fil-A made up 30% of net sales.
Price history
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MZTI -31.4% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By business segment
| Retail | $1.00B | 52% |
| Foodservice | $927.1M | 48% |
Latest results
- In Q4 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $465.0M, down 2.2% from a year earlier, and net income was $48.3M (+48.5%).
- For fiscal 2026, revenue was $1.93B (+1.1% year over year; +5.6% a year from FY2021 to FY2026) with a 9.9% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2021–FY2026) | +5.6% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 12.4% watch |
| Free cash flow margin | 10.7% good |
| Return on equity (FY2026) | 18.2% good |
| Return on assets (FY2026) | 11.9% good |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-174.2M weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $1.47B | $142.3M | $86.3M |
| FY2022 | $1.68B | $89.6M | $-30.2M |
| FY2023 | $1.82B | $111.3M | $135.7M |
| FY2024 | $1.87B | $158.6M | $184.0M |
| FY2025 | $1.91B | $167.3M | $203.5M |
| FY2026 | $1.93B | $191.6M | $206.1M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $2.96B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 15.5 |
| Dividend yield | 3.69% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MZTI price data to Oct 28, 2026 | -32.4% | -31.4% | — | — | — |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -32.4% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Before this security existed |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Before this security existed |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-31 to 2026-10-31 (25 read): 1 open-market purchases ($98K) and 2 sales ($234K).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 11, 2026 | Luis Viso Chief Supply Chain Officer | sell | $133K |
| Sep 10, 2026 | Luis Viso Strategic Advisor to CEO | sell | $101K |
| Jun 10, 2026 | Pigott, Thomas K. VP, CFO and Asst. Secretary | buy | $98K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| John B. Gerlach, Jr. | 5.2% | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 4.68% | Sep 30, 2026 |
What could go wrong
- Heavy reliance on Chick-fil-A and licenses. Chick-fil-A accounted for 30% of net sales in fiscal 2026, as a restaurant customer and through an exclusive retail license. Other licensed brands, like Olive Garden and Subway, add more exposure if agreements aren't renewed.
- Walmart and a few big buyers. Walmart made up 18% of net sales in fiscal 2026. The top five customers in each segment drove 62% of Retail and 57% of Foodservice sales. Losing one, or slipping down its priority list, would hurt.
- Food-safety scares, even someone else's. A recall or contamination claim could mean costs, lawsuits and lost sales. The company says outbreaks at restaurants or in food categories it doesn't supply have cut demand for its products before.
- Bachan's deal may not pay off. The company acquired Bachan's, a Japanese barbecue sauce maker. It warns the deal may not deliver the expected benefits, and folding it in could distract management or bring unexpected costs or liabilities.
- A plant outage could leave shelves short. Most products come from 13 US plants. A shutdown at a key site, or too little capacity, could mean unfilled orders and lost shelf placement with customers over the long term.
- Rising ingredient, packaging and freight costs. Inflation or geopolitical events can raise what the company pays for ingredients, packaging, energy and shipping. If it can't pass those increases on through prices, profit margins shrink.
Recent events
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released
- Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
- New debt or financial obligation; Other company announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Executive or board change; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
- Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Marzetti pays a regular dividend and has raised it for at least nine straight fiscal years through fiscal 2026. The true streak may be longer. Dividends per share grew from $2.95 in fiscal 2021 to $3.95 in fiscal 2026, about 6% a year. That payout used 57% of earnings and 53% of free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business). The dividend still rose in fiscal 2022, when free cash flow was negative. The yield was 3.69% as of October 28, 2026. Buybacks are modest: $69 million over five fiscal years, compared with $489 million in dividends.
Price history for the shares covers only about 1.3 years, so it doesn't show how the stock held up in the 2008, 2020 or 2022 market drops. In the year to October 28, 2026, the shares lost 31.4%, and at their worst sat 41.5% below their earlier high. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Marzetti make money?
Marzetti makes money by producing and marketing dressings, sauces, dips, croutons and frozen breads. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, its Retail segment, which supplies grocers and mass merchants, brought in 52% of $1.93 billion in revenue. The Foodservice segment supplied the other 48%. Most of that is private-label food made for national restaurant chains under their names. Net income was $192 million, a net margin (profit per dollar of sales) of 9.9%.
Is Marzetti the same company as Lancaster Colony?
Yes. Lancaster Colony Corporation changed its name to The Marzetti Company, effective June 27, 2025, taking the name of its Marzetti dressing brand. It is still an Ohio corporation, with headquarters in Westerville, Ohio, and its shares trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol MZTI. The company still makes dressings, sauces, dips and frozen breads for grocery stores and restaurant chains.
Does Marzetti raise its dividend every year?
It has for at least nine straight fiscal years through fiscal 2026, and the streak may be longer. Dividends per share rose from $2.95 in fiscal 2021 to $3.95 in fiscal 2026, about 6% a year. The fiscal 2026 dividend used 57% of earnings and 53% of free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business). The yield was 3.69% as of October 28, 2026. Past increases don't guarantee future ones.
Who are Marzetti's biggest customers?
Chick-fil-A and Walmart. Chick-fil-A accounted for 30% of net sales in fiscal 2026. That counts both restaurant supply and the Chick-fil-A sauces and dressings Marzetti places in grocery stores under an exclusive license. Walmart, the largest Retail customer, made up 18% of net sales. The two figures overlap, because Walmart's total includes Chick-fil-A products. The top five customers in each segment drove 62% of Retail and 57% of Foodservice sales.
How has Marzetti stock performed?
Poorly over the past year. As of October 28, 2026, the shares were down 31.4% over one year and 32.4% since the start of 2026. At the worst point in that year, they sat 41.5% below their earlier high. The company's reported results moved the other way: fiscal 2026 net income rose 14.5% while revenue grew 1.1%. At the October 28 price, the shares traded at 15.5 times fiscal 2026 earnings (the price-to-earnings ratio), with a 3.69% dividend yield.