WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases 95,596 Shares of The Wendy’s Company $WEN

WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its holdings in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 48.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 291,578 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 95,596 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trian Fund Management L.P. purchased a new position in Wendy’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $252,583,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 21.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,314,724 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $218,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,576,075 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,843,438 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $158,092,000 after purchasing an additional 3,205,269 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,091,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,075,000 after buying an additional 227,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Wendy’s by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,549,066 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $54,554,000 after buying an additional 357,814 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WEN. Wall Street Zen raised Wendy’s from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $8.00 to $8.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $5.50 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $7.78.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN opened at $7.63 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.95. The Wendy’s Company has a 52 week low of $6.07 and a 52 week high of $10.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.39.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $570.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.13 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 115.31% and a net margin of 5.72%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is 42.42%.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) operates as a global quick-service restaurant chain, best known for its square-shaped beef patties, fresh ingredient sourcing and signature Frosty dessert. The company’s menu features a variety of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, breakfast sandwiches, sides and beverages, designed to appeal to a broad customer base seeking both classic and contemporary fast-food options. Wendy’s has placed particular emphasis on product innovation, introducing limited-time offerings and revamped core menu items to maintain customer interest and respond to evolving dining trends.

Founded in 1969 by entrepreneur Dave Thomas in Columbus, Ohio, Wendy’s expanded rapidly through both company-owned and franchised outlets.