Wedbush Raises Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $440.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its price objective upped by Wedbush from $425.00 to $440.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.90 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.80 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.18 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.16 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.75 EPS.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Wingstop from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $475.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $379.53.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $412.70 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $379.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $380.43. The firm has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.87, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.71. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $166.65 and a 52-week high of $431.03.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.43%.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,152.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $224,093,000 after acquiring an additional 531,880 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,423,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,616,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 284.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $161,957,000 after acquiring an additional 283,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $254,860,000 after acquiring an additional 161,600 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.