TD Cowen Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by research analysts at TD Cowen in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. TD Cowen’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.22% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on WEN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $19.50 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.13.

Wendy’s Stock Down 3.0 %

Wendy’s stock opened at $16.63 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.73. Wendy’s has a fifty-two week low of $15.61 and a fifty-two week high of $20.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.80. 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 (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its 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). The company had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,728,745.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WEN. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Wendy’s by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after buying an additional 2,960,526 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,085,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Wendy’s by 113.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after buying an additional 1,856,970 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $27,627,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $397,469,000 after buying an additional 1,273,140 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by 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.