Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 136,112 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 187.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 208,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 136,112 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $3,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Wendy’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,085,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 113.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after buying an additional 1,273,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $17,094,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.7 %

WEN opened at $17.98 on Friday. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.79.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. The company had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

Wendy’s Company 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.