Wingstop Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.27 (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

Wingstop has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years. Wingstop has a dividend payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Wingstop to earn $4.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.2%.

Wingstop Trading Down 21.4 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $289.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $392.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $388.27. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $177.88 and a twelve month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WING shares. Raymond James raised Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $490.00 to $468.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $374.32.

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.