Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to Buyback $500.00 million in Outstanding Shares

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $340.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $240.60 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $354.08 and its 200 day moving average is $378.71.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The firm had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WING. Northcoast Research raised 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. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on Wingstop from $490.00 to $468.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.74.

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.