Wedbush Weighs in on Wingstop Inc.’s Q4 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Stock analysts at Wedbush lifted their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for Wingstop in a research report issued on Thursday, May 2nd. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now forecasts that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.80 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.79. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $3.40 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q1 2025 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.91 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.02 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.14 EPS.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $145.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.34 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 16.75%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on WING. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Wingstop from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wingstop from $375.00 to $398.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $330.39.

Wingstop Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $388.55 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 138.27, a P/E/G ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.67. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $150.08 and a 12 month high of $396.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $292,520,000 after acquiring an additional 370,032 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 121,134 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised 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 valued at $284,253,000 after purchasing an additional 19,540 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake 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 valued at $194,216,000 after buying an additional 422,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $224,093,000 after buying an additional 531,880 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,291.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

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.