Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Upgraded by Benchmark to Buy Rating

Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $340.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.85.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $287.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $392.16 and its 200-day moving average is $388.27. Wingstop has a one year low of $177.88 and a one year high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,152.87. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Wingstop by 2.8% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 7,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the first quarter worth $370,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Wingstop by 0.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 36,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,534,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at about $4,840,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 1,308.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 24,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,142,000 after buying an additional 23,179 shares during 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.