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

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 201.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 176,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,990 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Wendy’s worth $2,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Wendy’s by 2.2% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 40,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Wendy’s by 2.1% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 46,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 378.0% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $17.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.07 and a 200 day moving average of $17.65. The Wendy’s Company has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $20.65.

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

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders 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 5.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased 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 note on Friday, August 2nd. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.24.

Insider Activity

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

About Wendy’s

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.