Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Trading 4.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) traded up 4.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $256.00 and last traded at $257.28. 193,961 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 825,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $246.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. William Blair assumed coverage on Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Stephens set a $375.00 target price on Wingstop in a report on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target (down previously from $420.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price target on Wingstop from $296.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised Wingstop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.73.

Wingstop Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $286.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $298.92.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Wingstop by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,557,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $524,433,000 after buying an additional 294,786 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Wingstop during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $212,672,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 741,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $249,557,000 after buying an additional 109,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Wingstop by 83.1% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 737,369 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $248,302,000 after buying an additional 334,583 shares in 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.