Wendy’s’ (WEN) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $19.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WEN. Loop Capital reissued a buy rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued a neutral rating and issued a $19.50 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $20.13.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ WEN opened at $16.90 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $16.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.72. The company has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.17. Wendy’s has a fifty-two week low of $15.61 and a fifty-two week high of $20.84.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 101.01%.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WEN. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 76.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the 2nd quarter worth $42,085,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Wendy’s by 113.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,627,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $397,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,140 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.