Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Trading Down 4.2% – What’s Next?

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was down 4.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $7.96 and last traded at $7.9450. Approximately 4,486,719 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 6,260,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $12.00 price target on Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.86.

Wendy’s Stock Down 4.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $442.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.75 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 103.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Wendy’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.890 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.57%.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,634,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $316,509,000 after buying an additional 536,071 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 30.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,843,438 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $158,092,000 after acquiring an additional 3,205,269 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 7.4% during the first 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 period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 61.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,041,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $57,568,000 after buying an additional 1,915,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the third quarter valued at about $36,912,000. 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.