TD Securities Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by stock analysts at TD Securities in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $16.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. TD Securities’ price target points to a potential upside of 3.03% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.06 and a 200 day moving average of $16.93. Wendy’s has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly 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 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 analyst estimates of $564.17 million. On average, research analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Probity Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 14,253 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 2,564 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth $3,723,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $171,000. PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $530,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 628,013 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,237,000 after acquiring an additional 72,033 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Wendy’s

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.