Stephens Reiterates “Equal Weight” Rating for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $19.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WEN. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.50 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.30.

Wendy’s Trading Up 4.0 %

Wendy’s stock traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $19.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,158,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,506,367. Wendy’s has a one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.65. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.92 and a 200-day moving average of $17.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.17.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.25. The company had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEN. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 2.2% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 40,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 95,909 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 11,231 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 613,218 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,553,000 after acquiring an additional 95,525 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the first quarter worth about $379,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 159.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 59,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 36,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

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.