The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 81.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,069,077 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,722,531 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.52% of Wendy’s worth $18,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after buying an additional 1,273,140 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,344,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $100,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,626 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,141,024 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $80,668,000 after purchasing an additional 63,927 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,321,275 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,571,000 after purchasing an additional 68,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,745,202 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $46,559,000 after purchasing an additional 102,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Monday, September 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wendy’s Price Performance

WEN opened at $17.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.17. The Wendy’s Company has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.08 and a 200-day moving average of $17.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.01%.

Wendy’s Company 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.