Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Stock Price

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Truist Financial from $22.00 to $19.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 30.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.93.

Wendy’s Trading Down 1.3 %

Wendy’s stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,830,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,624,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.13. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Wendy’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 670.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 168.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently 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 offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.