JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target to $22.00

by · The Markets Daily

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN – Free Report) had its price objective boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

WEN has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.24.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Wendy’s

Wendy’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $17.63 on Monday. Wendy’s has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $20.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN – Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Wendy’s will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.67%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wendy’s

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 262.4% in the 4th quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,447,000 after buying an additional 53,794 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $2,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,140 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $1,027,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Wendy’s

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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.

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