Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $534.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.84 million. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 62.68% and a net margin of 9.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Wendy’s updated its FY24 guidance to $0.98-1.02 EPS.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Shares of WEN opened at $19.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. Wendy’s has a 52-week low of $17.64 and a 52-week high of $23.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.21, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.05.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WEN. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Wendy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Wendy’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Wendy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.60.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other Wendy’s news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total transaction of $81,315.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 17.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.