Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Estimates

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $560.50 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Wendy’s updated its FY 2024 guidance to 0.990-1.010 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $0.99-$1.01 EPS.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $19.66 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.72. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $15.61 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.36.

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.