Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $17.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.78% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.34.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN opened at $15.07 on Tuesday. Wendy’s has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $20.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $15.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 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 firm had revenue of $574.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Wendy’s by 670.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. 85.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.