DUBLIN, Ohio — Wendy’s is the latest major fast-food chain to report weaker-than-expected sales growth, with the hamburger company saying people aren’t dining out as much because it has gotten even cheaper to eat at home.

The chain known for its Frosty shakes and square burgers said Wednesday that sales edged up 0.4 percent at North American restaurants open at least 15 months in the second quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast a 2.4 percent increase.

Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor said during a conference call that customer traffic across the fast-food industry slipped starting earlier this year as the price gap between eating at home and dining out widened.

That’s because lower commodity costs have kept grocery prices down, while restaurant chains may maintain or raise prices as they deal with costs for running their businesses and try to improve profit margins.

Over time, Penegor said he’s confident fast-food chains will continue taking customer traffic away from sit-down restaurants.

“We view this as a bump in the road,” he said.

Shares were down 2.7 percent to $9.91 on Wednesday morning.

During the conference call, an analyst asked whether Wendy’s had any hard data to show people were staying home because of lower grocery prices, or if executives were relying on their gut feeling.

Penegor responded that it was “some gut, and some science,” illustrating the difficulty for companies to pin down what exactly affected their sales results.

For the year, Wendy’s lowered its sales growth forecast to between 1 percent and 2 percent at established locations. That’s down from its previous prediction for 3 percent growth.