Wedbush Comments on Wingstop’s Q1 Earnings (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Wingstop in a report 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 prior estimate 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.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.05.

Wingstop Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $247.09 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $290.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.28. Wingstop has a 1-year low of $242.58 and a 1-year high of $433.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Wingstop by 521.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in 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.

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.