Zacks Research Upgrades Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) to Hold

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

WEN has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Northcoast Research lowered Wendy’s from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.86.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WEN traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.71. The stock had a trading volume of 6,691,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,249,858. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.74, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.48. Wendy’s has a twelve month low of $8.39 and a twelve month high of $18.73.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 103.07% and a net margin of 8.63%.The business had revenue of $442.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Wendy’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.890 EPS. Research analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Wendy’s by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 29,823 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 49.1% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 15,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,163 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in shares of Wendy’s during the first quarter worth $224,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 22.6% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 200,375 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 36,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,262 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 917 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.