Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $19.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on WEN. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.36.

Wendy’s Stock Up 1.1 %

WEN stock opened at $18.11 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.64. Wendy’s has a 52-week low of $15.61 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.79.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $560.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.52%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Wendy’s by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,437 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Wendy’s by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after buying an additional 115,875 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the third quarter worth about $949,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s during the third quarter worth approximately $1,630,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.