Wendy's Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 34,345 call options on the company. This is an increase of 419% compared to the average daily volume of 6,617 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wendy's news, CMO Lindsay J. Radkoski bought 5,050 shares of Wendy's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.68 per share, with a total value of $58,984.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief marketing officer owned 28,956 shares in the company, valued at $338,206.08. The trade was a 21.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,752,651.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 203,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. This trade represents a 40.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,634,226 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $316,509,000 after buying an additional 536,071 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wendy's by 2.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,638,169 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $154,998,000 after acquiring an additional 217,055 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wendy's by 7.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,767,723 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $99,012,000 after acquiring an additional 464,444 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,033,560 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $65,747,000 after purchasing an additional 43,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,133,832 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $51,081,000 after purchasing an additional 90,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim cut Wendy's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wendy's from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Wendy's from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.58.

Wendy's Stock Down 5.7%

WEN stock traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $10.67. 7,873,424 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,331,998. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.24. Wendy's has a 12-month low of $10.30 and a 12-month high of $20.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.88.

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. The business had revenue of $523.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $530.11 million. Wendy's had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 85.36%. The business's revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wendy's will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy's Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Wendy's's payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

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.