Morgan Stanley Lowers Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $375.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $389.00 to $375.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 41.50% from the company’s previous close.

WING has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price target 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. 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 note on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.95.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock opened at $265.02 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $291.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.94. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $258.50 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The company has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 77.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 949 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 87,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,868,000 after buying an additional 11,577 shares in the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 130.5% in the 4th quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 36,202 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,289,000 after buying an additional 20,493 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 795 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in 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.