Wendy’s’ (WEN) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $15.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of WEN opened at $15.53 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.06 and a 200 day moving average of $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 cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued 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. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is 105.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 670.3% during 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 Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 168.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 85.96% of the stock is 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.