Wendy’s’ (WEN) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $16.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WEN. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $15.53 on Friday. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.06 and its 200-day moving average is $16.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.17 million. Equities analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $112,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 7.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 458,106 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Wendy’s by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,033,560 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,747,000 after buying an additional 43,805 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 3.0% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently 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.