Invesco Ltd. Increases Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 296.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,407,503 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.92% of Wendy’s worth $30,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEN. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 16.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,461,000 after buying an additional 102,769 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,733,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $357,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,318,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,358,000. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WEN shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.97.

Wendy’s Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $12.68 on Friday. 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 Wendy’s Company has a 52-week low of $12.05 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.31.

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

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.89%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

About Wendy’s

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.