Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING traded down $32.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $273.14. The stock had a trading volume of 749,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 594,955. The firm has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $293.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.48. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $266.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WING. Benchmark raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $385.00 to $389.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.72.

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.