Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 102,769 Shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Free Report) by 16.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 102,769 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.35% of Wendy's worth $12,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Wendy's in the second quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Wendy's during the second quarter worth $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Wendy's during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Wendy's by 94.7% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Wendy's during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy's in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy's from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Wendy's from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Wendy's from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wendy's to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy's presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.36.

Wendy's Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $16.89. 3,047,337 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,525,702. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $18.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.58. The Wendy's Company has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.77.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25. Wendy's had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Wendy's Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.92%. Wendy's's payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

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.