Traders Buy High Volume of Wendy's Put Options (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 17,119 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 141% compared to the typical volume of 7,099 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Abigail E. Pringle sold 136,819 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 203,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. The trade was a 40.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 700,472 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $10,248,000 after acquiring an additional 117,324 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 59,937 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 9,314 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 398.2% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 192,177 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 153,604 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 639,085 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,350,000 after acquiring an additional 11,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Wendy's during the 1st quarter worth approximately $161,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Wendy's Stock Down 0.6%

WEN stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $11.11. The company had a trading volume of 4,727,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,302,815. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.87. Wendy's has a fifty-two week low of $11.01 and a fifty-two week high of $20.60.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20. The company had revenue of $523.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $530.11 million. Wendy's had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Wendy's's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Wendy's will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy's Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. Wendy's's payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy's in a report on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Wendy's from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Wendy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Wendy's from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $16.34.

About Wendy's

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.