DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 1,303 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 18.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,303 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Wendy’s by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 1.5% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 48,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C. raised its position in Wendy’s by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 17,867 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Wendy’s by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 801 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 40,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.24.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

WEN opened at $17.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.69. The Wendy’s Company has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. Wendy’s’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is currently 101.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wendy’s

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

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.