Wingstop's (WING) "Overweight" Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Key Points

• Wingstop's stock has retained an "overweight" rating from analysts at Stephens, with a price target of $375 indicating a potential upside of 45.89% from its previous close.
• The consensus among analysts shows an average rating of Moderate Buy for Wingstop, with 4 "Strong Buy," 21 "Buy," 6 "Hold," and 1 "Sell" ratings issued.
• Recent insider selling includes CEO Michael Skipworth and CFO Alex Kaleida, who collectively sold over $3.7 million worth of shares, representing significant decreases in their ownership stakes.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $375.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock. Stephens' price target indicates a potential upside of 45.89% from the stock's previous close.

WING has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $350.00 price objective (down from $420.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $430.00 to $370.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $366.73.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $257.04 on Monday. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $204.00 and a 12 month high of $388.14. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.78. The company's fifty day moving average price is $286.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.31.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,557,383 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $524,433,000 after buying an additional 294,786 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Wingstop during the 1st quarter valued at about $212,672,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Wingstop by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 741,097 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $249,557,000 after buying an additional 109,108 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Wingstop by 83.1% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 737,369 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $248,302,000 after buying an additional 334,583 shares during the period.

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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