The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Shares Sold by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 23.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,706 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 42,774 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Wendy’s worth $2,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 159.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $102,743,000 after purchasing an additional 458,106 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 37,801 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after purchasing an additional 115,875 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,591,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,938,000 after purchasing an additional 766,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WEN shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.7 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $15.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $14.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The Wendy’s Company has a twelve month low of $13.72 and a twelve month high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

About Wendy’s

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.