WINTON GROUP Ltd Buys New Shares in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 18,503 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 16.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,461,000 after acquiring an additional 102,769 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,733,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Wendy’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,358,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 90.8% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 109,747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,923,000 after buying an additional 52,225 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of WEN opened at $14.63 on Monday. 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 50 day moving average price of $14.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.76. The Wendy’s Company has a fifty-two week low of $13.72 and a fifty-two week high of $20.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Argus raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Company Profile

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Wendy’s U.S., Wendy’s International, and Global Real Estate and Development. The Wendy’s U.S. segment includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S.