Wedbush Issues Negative Estimate for Wingstop Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Research analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Wingstop in a report issued on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.93 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.05. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $4.18 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q3 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.14 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.09 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.21 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.64 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on WING. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.05.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $234.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $288.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.08, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a 1-year low of $232.19 and a 1-year high of $433.86.

Wingstop declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Wingstop by 0.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,794,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Wingstop by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in Wingstop by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter.

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.