Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Trading Up 4.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)’s stock price was up 4.6% on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $319.00 to $360.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Wingstop traded as high as $294.70 and last traded at $299.56. Approximately 67,335 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 603,408 shares. The stock had previously closed at $286.30.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on WING. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,177.19. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,177,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 779.1% in the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,247,000 after acquiring an additional 16,361 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 475.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 69,234 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,676,000 after acquiring an additional 57,193 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 149.0% in the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 5,309 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 3,177 shares during the period.

Wingstop Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $236.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $275.25.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.37% and a negative return on equity of 21.59%. The business had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.09%.

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.