Ieq Capital LLC Buys 184,749 Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 220.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 268,531 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 184,749 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $4,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 37,801 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after purchasing an additional 115,875 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth $13,358,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 772,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,593,000 after purchasing an additional 80,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $15.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.32 and a 200-day moving average of $17.05. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.77. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.81.

Wendy’s Company Profile

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.