Bank of Montreal Can Grows Stake in The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) by 619.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 866,878 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 746,376 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.42% of Wendy's worth $14,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WEN. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Wendy's by 378.0% in the 1st quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Wendy's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy's by 483.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wendy's in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Wendy's in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of Wendy's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Wendy's in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Wendy's from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Wendy's from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Wendy's from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.24.

Wendy's Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WEN opened at $17.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80. The Wendy's Company has a twelve month low of $15.61 and a twelve month high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.66.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy's had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Wendy's Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. Wendy's's payout ratio is 101.01%.

Wendy's Company Profile

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.