Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Raises Dividend to $0.27 Per Share

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Wingstop has raised its dividend by an average of 17.9% annually over the last three years. Wingstop has a dividend payout ratio of 20.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Wingstop to earn $4.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.7%.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $373.88 on Thursday. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $150.08 and a 52 week high of $431.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $394.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $360.60.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a net margin of 16.75% and a negative return on equity of 19.64%. The firm had revenue of $155.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Albert G. Mcgrath sold 4,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.40, for a total value of $1,676,772.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,238,588. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Albert G. Mcgrath sold 4,230 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $396.40, for a total value of $1,676,772.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,238,588. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ania Smith sold 566 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.91, for a total transaction of $215,595.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,379.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,191 shares of company stock valued at $2,443,547. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WING shares. Raymond James raised shares of Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $421.00 to $461.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $393.00 to $407.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $342.89.

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.