Wendy’s Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 17,119 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 141% compared to the typical volume of 7,099 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WEN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Argus raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Abigail E. Pringle sold 136,819 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total value of $1,752,651.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 203,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,600,494.05. This trade represents a 40.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Wendy’s by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,634,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $316,509,000 after buying an additional 536,071 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,638,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $154,998,000 after buying an additional 217,055 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Wendy’s by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,767,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $99,012,000 after buying an additional 464,444 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Wendy’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,033,560 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,747,000 after buying an additional 43,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,133,832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,081,000 after buying an additional 90,380 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ WEN traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, reaching $11.28. The company had a trading volume of 808,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,293,792. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. Wendy’s has a 1-year low of $11.16 and a 1-year high of $20.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.87 and its 200-day moving average is $14.95.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. The firm had revenue of $523.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $530.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Wendy’s Company 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.