The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Shares Sold by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,512 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 13,331 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $872,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Wendy’s by 83.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 438,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,445,000 after purchasing an additional 199,078 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the second quarter valued at $161,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,446,000 after acquiring an additional 70,514 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 2.1% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 46,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 106,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,802,000 after buying an additional 3,218 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WEN shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.04.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.49. The Wendy’s Company has a fifty-two week low of $14.73 and a fifty-two week high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.78.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $560.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.66%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

About Wendy’s

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.