Wendy’s’ (WEN) Neutral Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $17.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $20.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.85% from the company’s current price.

WEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report 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 on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.42.

Wendy’s Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $15.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.03. Wendy’s has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $20.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.85.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in 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 worth $112,844,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959,480 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Wendy’s by 3,249.7% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,568,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,527 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 296.1% in the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth $16,678,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,358,000. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

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.