BMO Capital Markets Boosts Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target to $22.00

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Wendy’s from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Gordon Haskett cut Wendy’s from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wedbush increased their price target on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.60.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $19.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.21. Wendy’s has a 12 month low of $17.64 and a 12 month high of $23.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.80 and a 200 day moving average of $19.05. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.78.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.02. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 62.68% and a net margin of 9.44%. The firm had revenue of $534.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wendy’s news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total transaction of $81,315.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trian Fund Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 60.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trian Fund Management L.P. now owns 33,350,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $680,689,000 after purchasing an additional 12,618,115 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Wendy’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,627,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Wendy’s by 6.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,248,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,270,000 after buying an additional 1,162,540 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $20,574,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Wendy’s by 193.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,958 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,083,000 after acquiring an additional 842,856 shares in the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.