GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. Makes New $212,000 Investment in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. purchased a new position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WEN. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 195,372 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 11,812 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its position in Wendy’s by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,070 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 11,916 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Wendy’s by 371.1% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 253,256 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,127,000 after buying an additional 199,496 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Argus upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.97.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Wendy’s stock opened at $13.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $12.05 and a one year high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.37.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.59%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.26%.

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.