Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 142,500 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,577,359 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 142,500 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.31% of Wendy’s worth $37,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WEN. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 57,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $979,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,207 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,634 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 11,232 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 21,576 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other news, insider Abigail E. Pringle sold 136,819 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total transaction of $1,752,651.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 203,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. The trade was a 40.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Lindsay J. Radkoski bought 5,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.68 per share, with a total value of $58,984.00. Following the acquisition, the chief marketing officer directly owned 28,956 shares in the company, valued at $338,206.08. The trade was a 21.12% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WEN shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $13.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wendy’s from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.13.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.1%

WEN opened at $10.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.51. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $10.76 and a one year high of $20.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.88, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.49.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 85.36% and a net margin of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $523.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $530.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. Wendy’s’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Wendy’s U.S., Wendy’s International, and Global Real Estate and Development. The Wendy’s U.S. segment includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S.