Brown Financial Advisors Takes Position in The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 39,943 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,358 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 2,178 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Wendy's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,533,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in Wendy's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,027,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 78.6% during the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 42,212 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 18,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Wendy's by 175.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 11,235 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 7,161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Wendy's from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Wendy's from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Wendy's from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Wendy's in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Wendy's from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy's presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.24.

Wendy's Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WEN traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.51. 314,779 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,409,703. The Wendy's Company has a 52 week low of $15.61 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $577.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Wendy's Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. Wendy's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.01%.

Insider Activity at Wendy's

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Wendy's

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.