Barclays Boosts Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $418.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its price target lifted by Barclays from $350.00 to $418.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Wingstop from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. They set an outperform rating and a $340.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Wingstop from $421.00 to $461.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $330.39.

Wingstop Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $388.55 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.47. The company has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of 138.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.67. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $150.08 and a twelve month high of $396.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.22. Wingstop had a net margin of 16.75% and a negative return on equity of 19.64%. The firm had revenue of $145.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 34.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Wingstop news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total value of $961,888.56. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,291.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,901 shares of company stock worth $5,120,605 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,626,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $292,520,000 after purchasing an additional 370,032 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 11.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,167,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $209,915,000 after buying an additional 121,134 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,107,852 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,253,000 after acquiring an additional 19,540 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 64.3% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,079,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $194,216,000 after acquiring an additional 422,727 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $224,093,000 after acquiring an additional 531,880 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.