Freestone Grove Partners LP Buys New Stake in The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 38,164 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $622,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Wendy's by 296.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,690,000 after buying an additional 1,407,503 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Wendy's in the fourth quarter worth about $16,678,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Wendy's in the fourth quarter valued at $13,358,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wendy's by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,591,281 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,938,000 after purchasing an additional 766,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Wendy's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,031,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Wendy's from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. TD Securities cut their price objective on Wendy's from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded Wendy's to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy's from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's in a report on Friday, March 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.34.

Wendy's Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $11.77. 5,444,306 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,284,593. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.40. The Wendy's Company has a 1 year low of $11.71 and a 1 year high of $20.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20. Wendy's had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $523.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $530.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Wendy's Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy's Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Wendy's's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wendy's

In other Wendy's news, insider Abigail E. Pringle sold 136,819 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total transaction of $1,752,651.39. Following the sale, the insider now owns 203,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. This trade represents a 40.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 17.00% of the company's stock.

Wendy's Company 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.