Optimist Retirement Group LLC Purchases Shares of 14,951 The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WEN. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 378.0% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the second quarter worth $33,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Wendy’s by 483.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In related news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WEN stock opened at $17.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.70. The Wendy’s Company has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.84. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The firm had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.67%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WEN. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.24.

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.