Northcoast Research Downgrades Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to Neutral

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was downgraded by research analysts at Northcoast Research from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

WING has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.05.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $234.02 on Friday. Wingstop has a one year low of $232.19 and a one year high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $288.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $340.27.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in Wingstop by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 37 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.