Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 32 analysts, with an average 1-year price target of approximately $366.73.
• Recently, the company reported a 12.0% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $174.33 million, and achieved an EPS of $1.00, exceeding estimates.
• Wingstop has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, up from $0.27, reflecting a positive trend in shareholder returns.

Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-two ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $366.7308.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $4,421,118.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $1,666,530.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 22.3% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,569 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,212,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $255.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 42.59, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $284.74 and a 200 day moving average of $299.47. Wingstop has a one year low of $204.00 and a one year high of $388.14.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $174.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wingstop's payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

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.

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