Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Upgraded to Buy at Benchmark

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was upgraded by Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has a $340.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.25% from the stock’s current price.

WING has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James raised Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial upped their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wedbush upped their target price on Wingstop from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $379.95.

Wingstop Stock Down 21.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $289.99 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $392.16 and a 200 day moving average of $388.27. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.71. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $177.88 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,152.87. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 93 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 40 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.