Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Buys Shares of 15,192 The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,192 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $112,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after buying an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 113.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after buying an additional 1,856,970 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $17,094,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 619.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 866,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,711,000 after buying an additional 746,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.0 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $17.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.68 and a 200-day moving average of $17.58. The Wendy’s Company has a one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.77.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.25. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Wendy’s’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.84%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.26%.

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.