Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $248,000 Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. cut its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 908 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $372,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Wendy’s by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Wendy’s by 193.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,958 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,083,000 after buying an additional 842,856 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Wendy’s by 484.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 209,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,280,000 after buying an additional 173,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Wendy’s by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,248,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,270,000 after buying an additional 1,162,540 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wendy’s Price Performance

WEN stock opened at $18.76 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.82. The Wendy’s Company has a 12-month low of $17.64 and a 12-month high of $23.90.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $540.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.47 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 56.24% and a net margin of 9.37%. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 102.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WEN. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Wendy’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Wendy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total value of $81,315.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 20.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wendy’s Profile

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.