The Wendy’s Company Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NASDAQ:WEN)

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Wendy’s has raised its dividend payment by an average of 32.5% annually over the last three years. Wendy’s has a payout ratio of 89.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Wendy’s to earn $1.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 89.3%.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WEN stock opened at $15.50 on Friday. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. The business had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.42.

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.