The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) to Post Q4 2023 Earnings of $0.23 Per Share, Wedbush Forecasts

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) – Stock analysts at Wedbush cut their Q4 2023 earnings per share estimates for Wendy’s in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, November 3rd. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will earn $0.23 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.24. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wendy’s’ current full-year earnings is $0.98 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wendy’s’ Q1 2024 earnings at $0.23 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.30 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.33 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $1.14 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also commented on WEN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, October 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.37.

Wendy’s Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ WEN opened at $19.25 on Monday. Wendy’s has a fifty-two week low of $18.19 and a fifty-two week high of $23.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.56, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 2.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.92.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 9th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28. The business had revenue of $561.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $566.24 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 47.23% and a net margin of 8.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is presently 111.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 2,905,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.30, for a total value of $58,983,050.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,827,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $361,889,297.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 20.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wendy’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 0.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,510,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $446,103,000 after buying an additional 114,831 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,948,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $394,332,000 after buying an additional 425,575 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 2.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,989,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $130,447,000 after buying an additional 142,399 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 1.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,270,722 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $107,575,000 after buying an additional 70,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 6.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,957,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $108,911,000 after buying an additional 282,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% 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.