The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,660,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the December 31st total of 12,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 5.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 670.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Wendy’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WEN shares. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.71.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ WEN opened at $14.83 on Monday. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $13.98 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.29. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.78.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.