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

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price target boosted by Barclays from $16.00 to $17.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on WEN. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Stock Up 2.4 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $15.53 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.93. Wendy’s has a fifty-two week low of $13.72 and a fifty-two week high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $564.17 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 16.9% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,461,000 after buying an additional 102,769 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $1,733,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth $13,358,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 90.8% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 109,747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,923,000 after buying an additional 52,225 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.