Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Lowers Stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 25.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,800 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Trian Fund Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 60.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trian Fund Management L.P. now owns 33,350,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $680,689,000 after acquiring an additional 12,618,115 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,248,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,540 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,270,722 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $107,575,000 after purchasing an additional 70,832 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,674,711 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $95,411,000 after purchasing an additional 17,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,208,882 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,492,000 after purchasing an additional 113,406 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wendy’s

In other news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total value of $81,315.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Wendy’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.60.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN stock opened at $19.94 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.21. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $17.64 and a 52 week high of $23.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.05.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 62.68%. The company had revenue of $534.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.84 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.02%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.01%.

Wendy’s Profile

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.