Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Stock Price

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Citigroup from $15.50 to $16.50 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.25% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on WEN. Barclays raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

WEN traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.53. 8,099,879 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,882,719. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.94.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its 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 the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 458,106 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after acquiring an additional 37,801 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 worth $65,747,000 after purchasing an additional 43,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during 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.