Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Receives Overweight Rating from Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $468.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WING. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $292.06 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $318.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $366.85. Wingstop has a 1-year low of $241.78 and a 1-year high of $433.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.15, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the second quarter worth about $230,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 3.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Wingstop by 1,930.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,174,000 after acquiring an additional 25,024 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 43.6% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,025 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,577,000 after acquiring an additional 7,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Wingstop by 1.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period.

About Wingstop

Wingstop Inc, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates restaurants under the Wingstop brand. Its restaurants offer classic wings, boneless wings, tenders, and hand-sauced-and-tossed in various flavors, as well as chicken sandwiches with fries and hand-cut carrots and celery that are cooked-to-order.