Wedbush Research Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Equities researchers at Wedbush upped their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Wingstop in a research note issued to investors on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.83 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.81. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $3.03 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s FY2024 earnings at $3.08 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.97 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.66 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.17.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $384.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a PE ratio of 163.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.68. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $150.08 and a 52-week high of $392.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $283.73.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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%. The business’s revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the company’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 directly owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,771,901.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,843 shares of the company’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 directly owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,771,901.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total value of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,291.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 155.7% in the fourth 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. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Wingstop by 64.3% in the third 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth $103,899,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 29.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,626,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $292,520,000 after purchasing an additional 370,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth $80,423,000.

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.