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

The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd.

Wendy’s has increased its dividend by an average of 51.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Wendy’s has a payout ratio of 90.1% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect Wendy’s to earn $1.10 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 90.9%.

Wendy’s Price Performance

Wendy’s stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.94. 3,617,849 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,110,898. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.78. Wendy’s has a 1-year low of $17.64 and a 1-year high of $23.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.66.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. 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 56.24% and a net margin of 9.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Wendy’s will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WEN. Wedbush raised their target price on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Wendy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wendy’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wendy’s news, Director Kenneth W. Gilbert sold 4,500 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total transaction of $81,315.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,663.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.