Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 26,519 The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 26,519 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Wendy's by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 57,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Wendy's by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,207 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Wendy's by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,634 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in Wendy's by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 11,232 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Wendy's by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,223 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Abigail E. Pringle sold 136,819 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total value of $1,752,651.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 203,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. This represents a 40.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Lindsay J. Radkoski bought 5,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.68 per share, for a total transaction of $58,984.00. Following the acquisition, the chief marketing officer directly owned 28,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,206.08. The trade was a 21.12% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Wendy's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wendy's from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy's has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.87.

Wendy's Price Performance

Shares of WEN traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $10.55. The company had a trading volume of 4,434,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,710,928. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.34. The Wendy's Company has a 12-month low of $10.34 and a 12-month high of $20.60.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. Wendy's had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 85.36%. The company had revenue of $523.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $530.11 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Wendy's Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy's Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.31%. Wendy's's payout ratio is 59.57%.

Wendy's Profile

The Wendy's Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate and Development. The Wendy's U.S. segment includes the operation and franchising of Wendy's restaurants in the U.S.