Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Rating Lowered to "Sell" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wingstop's stock rating has been downgraded from "hold" to "sell" by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a shift in market sentiment.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for Wingstop, with BMO Capital raising it from $275 to $345, and Goldman Sachs adjusting theirs from $310 to $390.
• Despite the downgrade, Wingstop reported a 12% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the same period last year, exceeding analysts' expectations with earnings per share of $1.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Wingstop from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $274.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.52.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $266.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 44.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.87. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $323.32 and a 200-day moving average of $293.05.

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

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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 owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WING. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 1st quarter valued at about $269,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,111 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 66.3% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 446,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $100,744,000 after acquiring an additional 178,041 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 167.4% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,225 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,872,000 after acquiring an additional 11,329 shares during the period.

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.

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