Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Given Overweight Rating at Stephens

Stephens reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $468.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

WING has been the subject of several other research reports. Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark raised shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.74.

Wingstop Trading Up 2.0 %

WING opened at $298.01 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $365.59. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $241.78 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.49%.

Wingstop declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 2nd quarter worth $230,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 3.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 1,930.9% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,174,000 after purchasing an additional 25,024 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,025 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,598 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter.

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.