Analysts Set The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target at $18.08

Shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.08.

WEN has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $17.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Wendy’s by 159.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $112,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959,480 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 3,249.7% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,568,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,527 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Wendy’s by 296.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407,503 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,678,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,358,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $15.28 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. Wendy’s has a twelve month low of $13.72 and a twelve month high of $20.65.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. On average, analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

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.