Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Estimate for Wingstop Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Analysts at Wedbush reduced their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Wingstop in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $3.63 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $3.80. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $440.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $3.79 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.13 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.13 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.59 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on WING. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.63.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock opened at $297.18 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $388.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.45. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $204.01 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 87.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.76.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in Wingstop in the first quarter worth about $1,355,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 206.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 1,308.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 24,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,142,000 after acquiring an additional 23,179 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the first quarter worth about $1,696,000. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 4.1% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $81,703,000 after acquiring an additional 7,600 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,152.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

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.