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

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,890,000 shares, an increase of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 14,550,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 9.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Wendy’s by 670.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $17.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $14.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.86. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

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.