Claro Advisors LLC Takes Position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 22,501 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $394,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wendy’s by 6.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $397,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,140 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $115,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,960,526 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Wendy’s by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,446,000 after purchasing an additional 70,514 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 113.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,214,000 after buying an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Wendy’s by 2.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,321,275 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,571,000 after buying an additional 68,356 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $18.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.79. The Wendy’s Company has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.