Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 11,458 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the average volume of 6,613 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on WEN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Wendy’s from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 670.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 1,111.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wendy’s Trading Down 4.9 %

WEN stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.91. The company had a trading volume of 3,012,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,258,083. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.40. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $11.87 and a 52 week high of $20.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.79.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.20. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. The business had revenue of $523.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $530.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 59.57%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

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.