Analysts Set Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Target Price at $366.73

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-two research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $362.50.

WING has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (down previously from $420.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $315.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th.

Wingstop Trading Down 1.4%

WING stock opened at $259.14 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $388.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $280.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.26.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 106.9% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Quaker Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 134.2% during the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 4,200.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 129 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 121.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 217 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period.

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.