Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $389.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $385.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WING. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.16.

Wingstop Trading Up 2.8 %

WING opened at $280.48 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $305.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $353.18. The firm has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.77, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $266.45 and a twelve month high of $433.86.

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

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Wingstop by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $81,703,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,249,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,010,000. Conway Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,544,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Company Profile

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.