The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Wendy’s has increased its dividend by an average of 32.5% per year over the last three years. Wendy’s has a dividend payout ratio of 85.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Research analysts expect Wendy’s to earn $1.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 97.1%.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WEN opened at $14.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $15.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.11. Wendy’s has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 70.02%. On average, research analysts predict that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEN. UBS Group cut their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.93.

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.