Wedbush Has Pessimistic Outlook of Wingstop FY2024 Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Equities researchers at Wedbush decreased their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Wingstop in a report released on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now expects that the restaurant operator will earn $3.63 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $3.80. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $390.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $3.72 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.13 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.13 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.59 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WING. Benchmark raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.00.

Wingstop Trading Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $308.77 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $385.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $387.03. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $204.01 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.76.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The company had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,152.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,355,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 206.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 1,308.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 24,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,142,000 after acquiring an additional 23,179 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new position in Wingstop in the first quarter valued at $1,696,000. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 4.1% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $81,703,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares during the period.

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.