Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEN. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 0.6% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 92,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 11,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 1.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 51,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Wendy’s by 21.2% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Wendy’s by 2.1% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 46,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $796,000 after acquiring an additional 953 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 topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.99.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $14.85 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.46. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.78. 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 Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $14.73 and a one year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.25. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. The firm had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.73%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.26%.

Wendy’s Profile

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.