The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.08.

WEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Wendy's from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Wendy's from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Wendy's from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Wendy's in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy's in a report on Thursday, March 6th.

Institutional Trading of Wendy's

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Wendy's by 670.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Wendy's in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC purchased a new stake in Wendy's in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Wendy's by 168.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Wendy's in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wendy's Price Performance

NASDAQ:WEN traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $15.43. 3,283,060 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,940,270. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. Wendy's has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.85.

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $564.17 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wendy's will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Wendy's's payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

Wendy's Company Profile

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.