Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Invests $1.66 Million in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 94,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,659,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Wendy’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,446,000 after purchasing an additional 70,514 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 113.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856,970 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 valued at $46,559,000 after purchasing an additional 102,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,085,000. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WEN stock opened at $18.36 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.79. The Wendy’s Company has a 12-month low of $15.61 and a 12-month high of $20.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.60.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.