The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to “Buy”

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was upgraded by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $377.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $458.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 10.89% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on WING. BTIG Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING stock opened at $339.98 on Friday. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $204.01 and a 1 year high of $433.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $380.53 and its 200-day moving average is $385.93. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a PE ratio of 99.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.76.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Wingstop’s revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WING. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Wingstop in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 93 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 60.6% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 384.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during 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.