Wall Street Zen Downgrades Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to Sell

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WING. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of WING stock opened at $362.45 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.90. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.41, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.84.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total transaction of $173,945.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,177.19. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,475 shares of company stock valued at $11,665,881 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WING. Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Wingstop by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 22.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 2.9% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 0.5% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,569 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,212,000 after buying an additional 34 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.