Wedbush Boosts Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $425.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its target price upped by Wedbush from $400.00 to $425.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q2 2024 earnings at $0.74 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.83 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.08 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.35 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.97 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.05 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.66 EPS.

WING has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a hold rating and issued a $292.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. They issued an outperform rating and a $340.00 target price on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $330.39.

Wingstop Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $388.55 on Thursday. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $150.08 and a 12-month high of $396.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 138.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $360.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.47.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $145.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Wingstop’s quarterly revenue was up 34.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $961,888.56. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total value of $3,658,428.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,771,901.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,901 shares of company stock worth $5,120,605. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WING. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Wingstop by 155.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $224,093,000 after acquiring an additional 531,880 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 64.3% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,079,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $194,216,000 after purchasing an additional 422,727 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $103,899,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Wingstop during the fourth quarter worth about $80,423,000.

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.