Optimist Retirement Group LLC Purchases New Shares in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $279,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 50,403 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 3,290 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Wendy’s by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,141,024 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $80,668,000 after buying an additional 63,927 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Wendy’s by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.8 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $17.63 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $15.61 and a 52 week high of $20.84. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.70.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.67%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.01%.

About Wendy’s

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.