Benchmark Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Benchmark restated their hold rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Wingstop from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Wingstop from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Wingstop from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven investment 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, Wingstop has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $294.17.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $382.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 162.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $353.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.41. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $150.08 and a 1 year high of $383.98.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 15.25%. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 37.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $3,658,428.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,771,901.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the business’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 sale, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock worth $5,120,605. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WING. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $278,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Wingstop by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 8,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,250,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Wingstop by 123.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 6,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,524,000 after buying an additional 3,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Wingstop by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 21,440 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,856,000 after buying an additional 1,951 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.