Stephens Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Stephens in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $450.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 70.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WING. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $385.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.72.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING traded down $41.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $264.51. 1,918,792 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 631,186. The company has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 77.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.06 and a 200 day moving average of $342.48. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $264.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.01). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. This trade 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 Trading of Wingstop

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WING. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 384.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 104.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 49,908 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,766,000 after buying an additional 25,440 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 41,244.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 65,325 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,180,000 after buying an additional 65,167 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 5.7% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 5,941 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,472,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the third quarter worth about $224,000.

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.