Wedbush Has Pessimistic Outlook of Wingstop Q1 Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Research analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Wingstop in a research note issued on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.93 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.05. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $4.28 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q3 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.14 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.09 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.21 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.64 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.05.

Wingstop Trading Down 5.3 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $234.02 on Friday. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $232.19 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.08, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Wingstop by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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 purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.11%.

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.