Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $290.83.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

Wingstop Stock Up 2.0 %

Wingstop stock opened at $369.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 157.40, a P/E/G ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.78. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $150.08 and a twelve month high of $379.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 15.25% and a negative return on equity of 17.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total value of $500,288.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,291.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,291.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock worth $5,120,605. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 542.8% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,773 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after buying an additional 9,097 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,021,000. Strs Ohio lifted its position in Wingstop by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 79,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,295,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,961,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Wingstop by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period.

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.