Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $13.72 and last traded at $13.91, with a volume of 1230096 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEN has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.43.

Wendy’s Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.15.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wendy’s

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Wendy’s by 670.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Wendy’s by 168.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Wendy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.