Wingstop’s (WING) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $450.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WING. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Benchmark upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.05.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING opened at $234.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.46. Wingstop has a 1-year low of $232.19 and a 1-year high of $433.86.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares during the last quarter. Conway Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $3,544,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $5,010,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wingstop by 40.8% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $874,000.

Wingstop Company Profile

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.