Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 13,073 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,358,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1,653.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 376,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,605,000 after purchasing an additional 355,480 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 220.5% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 268,531 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,377,000 after buying an additional 184,749 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 202.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 253,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,433,000 after buying an additional 169,407 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of WEN opened at $15.25 on Thursday. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $20.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Wendy’s Profile

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.