Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by Northcoast Research

Northcoast Research cut shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.05.

Wingstop Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $234.02 on Friday. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $232.19 and a 1 year high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $340.46.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This represents 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. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $115,301,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 760.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $108,497,000 after acquiring an additional 337,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $77,855,000.

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.