HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 5,455 Shares of The Wendy’s Company $WEN

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,455 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 1,111.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 91.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,266 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,262 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Wendy’s by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Friday, August 15th. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.76.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other news, CMO Lindsay J. Radkoski acquired 5,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $338,206.08. The trade was a 21.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wendy’s Price Performance

WEN opened at $10.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.74, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.46. The Wendy’s Company has a 1 year low of $9.74 and a 1 year high of $20.60.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $560.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $558.95 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 103.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Wendy’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.