State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 28.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 43,726 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.05% of Wendy’s worth $1,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 7.8% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 135,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,294,000 after buying an additional 9,790 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 22,614 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 5,168 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 48,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 894,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,169,000 after acquiring an additional 100,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gries Financial LLC acquired a new position in Wendy’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $267,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WEN shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.24.

Wendy’s Stock Down 2.4 %

WEN stock opened at $17.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.09 and a 200-day moving average of $17.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.17. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.84.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The firm had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Wendy’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.73%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wendy’s 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.