Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 10,629 The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,629 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 458,106 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Wendy’s by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after acquiring an additional 37,801 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after acquiring an additional 115,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 93.0% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN stock opened at $15.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $20.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.83.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Equities analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.55%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WEN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.08.

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.