Wingstop’s (WING) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their hold rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. They set an outperform rating and a $340.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $290.83.

Wingstop Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $364.73 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $351.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.19. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.20, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.68. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $150.08 and a 1 year high of $379.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $127.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 15.25% and a negative return on equity of 17.66%. Wingstop’s quarterly revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is 37.45%.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,626,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $292,520,000 after buying an additional 370,032 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 11.6% during the 3rd 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. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,107,852 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,253,000 after buying an additional 19,540 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 64.3% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,079,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $194,216,000 after buying an additional 422,727 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 155.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $224,093,000 after buying an additional 531,880 shares during the period.

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.