Wendy’s’ (WEN) “Sector Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $17.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WEN. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reduced their target price on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.34.

Wendy’s Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.07 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $15.18 and a 200 day moving average of $16.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.77. Wendy’s has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 75.56% and a net margin of 8.65%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Wendy’s by 670.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Wendy’s by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

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.