Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 291,896 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 9,907 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $4,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Wendy’s by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after acquiring an additional 115,875 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $763,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 16.9% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,461,000 after buying an additional 102,769 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Wendy’s in the third quarter worth about $451,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Wendy’s by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.97.

Wendy’s Price Performance

NASDAQ WEN opened at $12.59 on Tuesday. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $12.05 and a one year high of $20.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.48 and a 200 day moving average of $16.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.94%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.26%.

Wendy’s 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.