Cullen Investment Group LTD. Sells 895 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. reduced its holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after acquiring an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position 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 valued at $112,844,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 37,801 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 worth $69,446,000 after buying an additional 70,514 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Wendy’s by 113.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.04.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Wendy’s stock opened at $15.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.49. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $14.73 and a 52 week high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.66%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.