Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by stock analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $15.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Wendy’s from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Argus raised shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price target (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Down 2.7 %

WEN stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.77. 761,191 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,149,610. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.83. Wendy’s has a 52-week low of $12.05 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.49.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 458,106 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,187,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 37,801 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Wendy’s by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,033,560 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,747,000 after purchasing an additional 43,805 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Wendy’s by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,133,832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,081,000 after buying an additional 90,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Wendy’s by 3.9% in the third 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 period. 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 operates through the following segments: Wendy’s U.S., Wendy’s International, and Global Real Estate and Development. The Wendy’s U.S. segment includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S.