Investors Purchase High Volume of Wendy’s Put Options (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 20,439 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 411% compared to the average volume of 4,002 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WEN. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of WEN opened at $15.07 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.98 and its 200-day moving average is $16.82. Wendy’s has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Equities research analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.64%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after buying an additional 3,959,480 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Wendy’s by 3,249.7% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,568,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,527 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Wendy’s by 296.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407,503 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth about $16,678,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,358,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Wendy’s

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.