Virtu Financial LLC Purchases New Stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 28,407 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth about $13,358,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,591,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,938,000 after buying an additional 766,910 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 458,106 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 1,653.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 376,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,605,000 after acquiring an additional 355,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WEN. Barclays raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Price Performance

WEN stock opened at $14.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.80. The Wendy’s Company has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48.

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

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.87%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Wendy’s 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.