Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 536,071 Shares of The Wendy’s Company $WEN

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,634,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 536,071 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.27% of Wendy’s worth $316,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Colonial Trust Co SC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1,111.9% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 27.4% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,262 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 91.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,266 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 2,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WEN shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $14.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. TD Securities lowered 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 note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Wendy’s from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Lindsay J. Radkoski purchased 5,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.68 per share, for a total transaction of $58,984.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief marketing officer directly owned 28,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,206.08. The trade was a 21.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $10.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.74, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.45. The Wendy’s Company has a 52-week low of $9.74 and a 52-week high of $20.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.67.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 103.07%. The firm had revenue of $560.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $558.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 58.33%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

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.