Citigroup Boosts Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target to $21.00

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

WEN has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Wendy’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price target for the company from $24.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wendy’s currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $22.60.

Wendy’s Stock Up 0.1 %

WEN stock opened at $19.94 on Friday. Wendy’s has a one year low of $17.64 and a one year high of $23.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.21, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.02. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 62.68% and a net margin of 9.44%. The business had revenue of $534.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 101.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wendy’s news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total transaction of $81,315.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Trian Fund Management L.P. lifted its stake in Wendy’s by 60.9% during the third quarter. Trian Fund Management L.P. now owns 33,350,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $680,689,000 after purchasing an additional 12,618,115 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $27,627,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,248,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,270,000 after buying an additional 1,162,540 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,574,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 193.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,958 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,083,000 after buying an additional 842,856 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wendy’s Company Profile

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.