Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a report released on Wednesday,RTT News reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on WING. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.52.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ WING opened at $253.55 on Wednesday. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $204.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $294.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.87.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at $15,842,034.18. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. This represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 93.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 106.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 134.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 4,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 129 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter.

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.