Legato Capital Management LLC Sells 51,146 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Legato Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 57.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,537 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 51,146 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 670.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Wendy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wendy’s Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $14.76 on Friday. The Wendy’s Company has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.13.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.43.

Wendy’s Profile

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.