Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Price Target Raised to $22.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) had its price target increased by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 24.86% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WEN. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.50 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.24.

Wendy’s Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ WEN traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $17.62. The company had a trading volume of 952,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,461,188. Wendy’s has a one year low of $15.61 and a one year high of $20.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.94 and its 200-day moving average is $17.70. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Wendy’s had a return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $570.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Wendy’s

In other news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares in the company, valued at $256,728,745.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,813,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,960,526 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Wendy’s in the second quarter worth approximately $42,085,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in Wendy’s by 113.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 3,491,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,970 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $27,627,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wendy’s by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,097,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $397,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.