Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $368.16.

Several research firms recently commented on WING. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $385.00 to $389.00 in a report on Tuesday. 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. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Wingstop stock opened at $288.53 on Friday. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $266.45 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $303.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $352.24.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is 31.49%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 984.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,683,000 after buying an additional 197,853 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Wingstop by 392.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,587,000 after buying an additional 146,692 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 66.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $137,753,000 after acquiring an additional 130,248 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.