Janus Henderson Group PLC Buys 68,356 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,321,275 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,356 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 1.62% of Wendy’s worth $62,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highlander Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 378.0% during the 1st quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 483.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 145.8% during the 4th 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 period. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Juan Carlos Loredo sold 44,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.50, for a total transaction of $873,717.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 27,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $537,927. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on WEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.03.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN traded up $0.34 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.43. The stock had a trading volume of 3,050,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,489,763. The Wendy’s Company has a 12-month low of $15.61 and a 12-month high of $22.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.18.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $534.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.84 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 62.68% and a net margin of 9.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.01%.

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.