Wedbush Boosts Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $400.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its target price lifted by Wedbush from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.83 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.08 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.97 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.66 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on WING. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. They set an outperform rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen reiterated a buy rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $294.17.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $382.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $354.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.25. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $150.08 and a fifty-two week high of $383.98. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 162.79, a P/E/G ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 1.68.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. Wingstop had a net margin of 15.25% and a negative return on equity of 17.66%. The firm had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total value of $961,888.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Wingstop news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $3,658,428.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,771,901.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 542.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,021,000. Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 79,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,295,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,961,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter.

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.