State Street Corp Buys 37,801 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 0.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,801 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $90,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 0.6% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 92,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after buying an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position 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 worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc. increased its position in Wendy’s by 6.5% in the third quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 11,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Wendy’s by 1.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 51,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Wendy’s by 21.2% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WEN. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $16.89 on Tuesday. The Wendy’s Company has a fifty-two week low of $15.61 and a fifty-two week high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.58.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Wendy’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

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.