Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Stock

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Wedbush from $15.50 to $16.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 11.89% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.93.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN stock opened at $14.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.11. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The business 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 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 670.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.