The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Shares Bought by Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN – Get Rating) by 47.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,701 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the second quarter worth $41,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 85.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,498 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the third quarter worth $103,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.59% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, insider Liliana Esposito sold 6,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total transaction of $138,757.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,684,462.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 3,627,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.05, for a total transaction of $79,987,896.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,705,770 shares in the company, valued at $478,612,228.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Liliana Esposito sold 6,167 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total transaction of $138,757.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,684,462.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,698,437 shares of company stock worth $81,502,197 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 20.10% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Stock Down 3.1 %

WEN stock opened at $22.68 on Tuesday. The Wendy’s Company has a twelve month low of $16.11 and a twelve month high of $23.90. The company has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.99.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 44.37% and a net margin of 8.42%. The business had revenue of $528.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $525.77 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is 119.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Wendy’s from $23.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Northcoast Research lowered Wendy’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.44.

Wendy’s Profile

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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.