AQR Capital Management Llc owns $115.56M stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN – Free Report) by 76.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,960,526 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 3.32% of Wendy’s worth $115,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their positions in WEN. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 378.0% in the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 483.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s shares.

Insiders place their bets

In related news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s shares.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.24.

Check out our latest analysis on WEN

Wendy’s trading up 2.0%

WEN opened at $17.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.17, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01. The Wendy’s Company has a 12-month low of $15.61 and a 12-month high of $20.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.07 and a 200 day moving average of $17.67.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN – Get Your Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The company’s revenue rose 1.6% year-over-year. In the same quarter last year, the business posted earnings of $0.28 per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s dividend announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a dividend of $1.00 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s payout ratio is 101.01%.

Wendy’s profile

(Free Report)

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 US, Wendy’s International and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The Company is engaged in the operation, development and franchising of a system of quick service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.

Recommended articles

Want to see what other hedge funds own WEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN – Free Report).

Get news and reviews for Wendy’s Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Wendy’s and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.