Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Raised to Strong-Buy at Gordon Haskett

Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $280.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Northcoast Research lowered Wingstop from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Wingstop from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $320.05.

Wingstop Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ WING traded down $0.89 on Wednesday, reaching $269.22. 899,977 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 596,468. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.80. The business's fifty day moving average price is $227.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $278.55.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.37% and a negative return on equity of 21.59%. The firm had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Wingstop's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $115,301,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at about $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $108,497,000 after purchasing an additional 337,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the fourth quarter valued at about $77,855,000.

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.