S.A. Mason LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

S.A. Mason LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 26.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 40,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 95,909 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 11,231 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 613,218 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,553,000 after acquiring an additional 95,525 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s during the first quarter worth about $379,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 159.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 59,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 36,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WEN shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.50 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on 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 issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.22.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In related news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $20.31 on Thursday. The Wendy’s Company has a 1 year low of $15.61 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The firm has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.92 and a 200 day moving average of $17.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The business had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Wendy’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is presently 101.01%.

About Wendy’s

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.