Stephens Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $468.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark raised shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $328.54 on Monday. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $240.60 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $352.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $378.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $81,703,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the second quarter valued at about $2,249,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the third quarter worth about $5,010,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Wingstop by 36.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $254,860,000 after buying an additional 161,600 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wingstop by 40.8% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 shares in the last quarter.

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.