Analysts Set The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target at $20.22

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.22.

WEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.50 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at $256,728,745.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 6.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after buying an additional 1,273,140 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 76.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $115,562,000 after buying an additional 2,960,526 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 2.1% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,344,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $100,683,000 after buying an additional 111,626 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,446,000 after buying an additional 70,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased 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 worth $59,214,000 after buying an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.1 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $19.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 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 one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.08%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is 101.01%.

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.