The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

Wendy’s has raised its dividend payment by an average of 51.1% annually over the last three years. Wendy’s has a payout ratio of 94.3% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect Wendy’s to earn $1.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 96.2%.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Wendy’s stock opened at $19.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Wendy’s has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $17.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.71. The company has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.80.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The business had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WEN. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Wendy’s from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.22.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.