Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Now Covered by Melius

Melius started coverage on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $350.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WING. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $360.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $358.16.

Wingstop Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $318.27 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $332.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.59. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.31, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 1.84.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 26.45%. The company had revenue of $171.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 18.09%.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,177.19. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total transaction of $3,373,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,919,074.60. This trade represents a 17.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,672,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at $151,802,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Wingstop by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth $106,123,000. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Wingstop by 130.7% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $142,564,000 after buying an additional 358,044 shares during the last quarter.

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.