Benchmark Lowers Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $325.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its price objective decreased by Benchmark from $340.00 to $325.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WING. BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. TD Securities cut their target price on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.05.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING opened at $234.02 on Thursday. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $232.19 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The company has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $288.89 and a 200-day moving average of $340.27.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth about $115,301,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth about $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Wingstop by 760.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $108,497,000 after acquiring an additional 337,401 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,855,000.

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.