The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Short Interest Update

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,080,000 shares, a decline of 23.6% from the November 30th total of 13,200,000 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.36.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $16.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10.

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, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.06%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% during 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 during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 113.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,970 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Wendy’s by 619.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 866,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,711,000 after purchasing an additional 746,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the second quarter valued at about $11,018,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

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.