California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Position in The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 801,070 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 35,016 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.39% of Wendy's worth $13,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Wendy's by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,529 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Wendy's by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 57,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy's by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,634 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy's by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wendy's by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 11,232 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $17.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy's in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wendy's from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Wendy's from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy's Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ:WEN traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $12.71. The company had a trading volume of 852,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,149,908. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The Wendy's Company has a 1 year low of $12.05 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy's had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. The company had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Equities analysts forecast that The Wendy's Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Wendy's's payout ratio is 105.26%.

About Wendy's

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.