International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires 30,743 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 1,562.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,710 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,743 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 76.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after acquiring an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Wendy’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,085,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in Wendy’s by 113.6% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Wendy’s by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $397,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Wendy’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $17,094,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WEN shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $19.77 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.08 and a 200 day moving average of $17.71. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $15.61 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.79.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

About Wendy’s

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.