Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on WEN. UBS Group cut their price target 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 price target 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. Barclays cut their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.81.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.06.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.56%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 159.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,440,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $112,844,000 after buying an additional 3,959,480 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 3,249.7% during the 4th quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,568,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,564,000 after buying an additional 1,521,527 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Wendy’s by 296.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,882,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,503 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,678,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,358,000. 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.