Park Avenue Securities LLC Reduces Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WENFree Report) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,830 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $115,562,000 after buying an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,358,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Wendy’s by 619.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 866,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,711,000 after acquiring an additional 746,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Wendy’s by 1,653.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 376,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,605,000 after acquiring an additional 355,480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WEN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.71.

View Our Latest Analysis on Wendy’s

Wendy’s Trading Up 0.6 %

WEN stock opened at $14.30 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The Wendy’s Company has a fifty-two week low of $13.98 and a fifty-two week high of $20.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.78.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WENGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. The company had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.99%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WENFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN)

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