Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 10,629 The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,629 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Wendy’s by 670.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Wendy’s by 2,334.5% in the fourth quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 4,869 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 4,669 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Argus upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.1 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $15.26 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $14.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Research analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio 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 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.