The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Short Interest Up 53.3% in February

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,550,000 shares, an increase of 53.3% from the January 31st total of 9,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 8.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reduced their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.42.

Wendy’s Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $14.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a twelve month low of $13.72 and a twelve month high of $20.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. The business had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. As a group, analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is 105.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEN. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 92,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,614,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Wendy’s by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 57,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Finally, Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.