Gradient Investments LLC Raises Stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 772,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 80,055 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC owned 0.38% of Wendy’s worth $12,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Wendy’s by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,461,000 after acquiring an additional 102,769 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 98.2% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 176,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 87,254 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $13,358,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Wendy’s by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 109,747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,923,000 after buying an additional 52,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.71.

Wendy’s Price Performance

WEN stock opened at $14.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $16.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.78. The Wendy’s Company has a 1 year low of $13.98 and a 1 year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.