Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target to $16.00

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price target cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $17.00 to $16.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.81.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $15.21 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. Wendy’s has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $15.32 and a 200 day moving average of $17.05.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 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 business had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.17 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.57%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,844,000 after buying an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $102,743,000 after buying an additional 458,106 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,887,000 after buying an additional 37,801 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,033,560 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,747,000 after buying an additional 43,805 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,133,832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,081,000 after buying an additional 90,380 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.