Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James Financial

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial upgraded Wingstop's stock rating from "outperform" to a "strong-buy", citing a price target of $420.00, which implies a potential upside of 29% from the previous close.
• Despite the upgrades, Wingstop's shares recently declined by 5.0%, opening at $325.59 on Friday, with a market cap of $9.09 billion.
• Insider trading activity revealed significant sales, including a transaction by SVP Marisa Carona, who sold 11,938 shares for over $4.4 million.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Raymond James Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $420.00 price target on the restaurant operator's stock. Raymond James Financial's price target indicates a potential upside of 29.00% from the company's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WING. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Wingstop to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Down 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $325.59 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $338.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $289.28. The company has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.84. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $204.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 43.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $371,517,000 after purchasing an additional 496,717 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 23.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,557,383 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $524,433,000 after purchasing an additional 294,786 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the first quarter worth about $212,672,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 17.3% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 741,097 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $249,557,000 after purchasing an additional 109,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 83.1% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 737,369 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $248,302,000 after purchasing an additional 334,583 shares during 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.

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