Wendy’s’ (WEN) “Equal Weight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $15.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

WEN has been the subject of several other research reports. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.34.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Wendy’s stock opened at $15.16 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a 12-month low of $13.72 and a 12-month high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. The company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Equities analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.60%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 458,106 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 37,801 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 valued at $65,747,000 after purchasing an additional 43,805 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Wendy’s by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,133,832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,081,000 after purchasing an additional 90,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

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.