Wendy’s’ (WEN) “Equal Weight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stephens in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $15.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target points to a potential upside of 5.49% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.43.

Wendy’s Trading Down 0.7 %

WEN opened at $14.22 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. Wendy’s has a 52 week low of $13.98 and a 52 week high of $20.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. On average, research analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Wendy’s by 159.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Wendy’s by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,303,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $102,743,000 after purchasing an additional 458,106 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after buying an additional 37,801 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,097,836 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,287,000 after buying an additional 115,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 93.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,591,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,938,000 after buying an additional 766,910 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.