Wendy’s’ (WEN) Neutral Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a $9.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous target price of $12.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Wendy’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Northcoast Research cut Wendy’s from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Truist Financial set a $12.00 price target on Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.64.

Wendy’s Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:WEN opened at $8.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.89, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Wendy’s has a 1-year low of $7.83 and a 1-year high of $17.86. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.75 and a 200 day moving average of $10.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 8.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $442.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $535.75 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 125.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. Wendy’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 59.57%.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 6.2% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 836,626 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,554,000 after acquiring an additional 48,736 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,428,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 398.2% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 192,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,812,000 after purchasing an additional 153,604 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $448,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,767,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $99,012,000 after purchasing an additional 464,444 shares during the last quarter. 85.96% of the stock is 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 operates through the following segments: Wendy’s U.S., Wendy’s International, and Global Real Estate and Development. The Wendy’s U.S. segment includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S.