Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $377.53.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WING. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $456.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Raymond James upgraded Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday.

Wingstop Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ WING opened at $362.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $393.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $362.10. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $150.08 and a 52 week high of $431.03. The company has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.70.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. This is a positive change from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 31.32%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.74, for a total value of $255,252.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,036,873.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.74, for a total transaction of $255,252.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,036,873.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kate S. Lavelle sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.57, for a total value of $295,927.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,567 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,431.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,191 shares of company stock valued at $2,443,547. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 155.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $224,093,000 after buying an additional 531,880 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at about $103,899,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,423,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at about $78,616,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Wingstop by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,473,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter.

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.