Brown Financial Advisors Has $440,000 Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Brown Financial Advisors lifted its position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,984 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Wendy’s were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,358,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Wendy’s by 1,653.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 376,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,605,000 after acquiring an additional 355,480 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Wendy’s by 220.5% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 268,531 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,377,000 after purchasing an additional 184,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Wendy’s by 202.6% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 253,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,433,000 after purchasing an additional 169,407 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.73.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of WEN stock opened at $15.94 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.30 and its 200-day moving average is $17.04. The Wendy’s Company has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.27%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Wendy’s Profile

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.