Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 75.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,804 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 18,905 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,273,140 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 2.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,344,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $100,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,626 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,446,000 after purchasing an additional 70,514 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position 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 worth $62,571,000 after purchasing an additional 68,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 3.9% in 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 buying an additional 102,512 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $19.50 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.24.

Wendy’s Price Performance

NASDAQ WEN opened at $17.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.66. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $15.61 and a 52 week high of $20.65. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released 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). Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.