Brokerages Set Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target at $368.74

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

Several research firms have weighed in on WING. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Wingstop Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $288.53 on Friday. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $266.45 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $303.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $352.24. The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 84.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.81.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Wingstop by 2.1% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,294 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,691 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the second quarter valued at about $5,989,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Wingstop by 4.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,440 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Wingstop during the second quarter worth about $27,000.

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.