Wingstop’s (WING) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at TD Cowen

TD Cowen reissued their buy rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $410.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. They issued an outperform rating and a $340.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Benchmark restated a hold rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Wingstop from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $294.17.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $383.98 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $357.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.20. The company has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 163.40, a P/E/G ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 1.67. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $150.08 and a 1 year high of $396.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 15.25%. The business’s revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 37.45%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total value of $961,888.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $3,658,428.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,107 shares in the company, valued at $5,771,901.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 11,380 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,920,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Wingstop by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Wingstop by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 115 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 13,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60 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.