Stephens Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by analysts at Stephens in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $450.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target points to a potential upside of 70.12% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on WING. Northcoast Research raised 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. Benchmark raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $385.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.72.

Wingstop Trading Down 13.6 %

WING stock traded down $41.51 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $264.51. 1,918,792 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 631,186. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $293.06 and its 200 day moving average is $342.48. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $264.00 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.01). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. As a group, analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter valued at $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Wingstop by 521.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 53.8% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter worth $30,000.

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.