Wedbush Issues Negative Estimate for Wingstop Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Equities researchers at Wedbush decreased their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Wingstop in a note issued to investors on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.86 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.09. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $4.18 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q4 2025 earnings at $1.01 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.76 EPS.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.90.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $236.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $287.62 and a 200-day moving average of $339.19. Wingstop has a 52-week low of $232.19 and a 52-week high of $433.86.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

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.