Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 95,134 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,411 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $1,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $27,627,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273,140 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,574,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $17,094,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 438,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,445,000 after buying an additional 199,078 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ WEN opened at $17.69 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.67. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The firm had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date 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.