Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Grows Position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 201.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 176,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,990 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Wendy’s worth $2,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter worth $421,000. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $677,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,718,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 51,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wendy’s Trading Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ WEN opened at $18.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.80. The Wendy’s Company has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

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

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.37%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 102.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.50 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.12.

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.