Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by research analysts at Stephens in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $468.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 57.04% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $298.01 on Thursday. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $241.78 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $316.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $366.02. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WING. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the second quarter valued at about $230,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Wingstop by 3.7% during the second 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. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Wingstop by 1,930.9% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,174,000 after purchasing an additional 25,024 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Wingstop by 43.6% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,025 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Wingstop by 1.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 129 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.