Wendy’s’ (WEN) Neutral Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated their neutral rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a $17.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous target price of $20.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.42.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ WEN opened at $15.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.00.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. On average, equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid 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 6.45%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 3,249.7% in the 4th quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,568,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,527 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 296.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,690,000 after buying an additional 1,407,503 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth $16,678,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth $13,358,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Wendy’s

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.