Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by analysts at Stephens in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target points to a potential downside of 3.41% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on WEN. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $17.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.08.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of WEN stock opened at $15.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.94. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65.

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

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Wendy’s by 670.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. 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.