Melius Begins Coverage on Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING)

Research analysts at Melius initiated coverage on shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $350.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Melius’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on Wingstop from $360.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.40.

Wingstop Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of WING stock opened at $317.66 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of 53.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $334.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.07. Wingstop has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 26.45%. The company had revenue of $171.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total value of $3,373,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 47,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,919,074.60. This represents a 17.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total transaction of $173,945.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,177.19. The trade was a 55.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WING. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,630 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,168,000 after buying an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 49.8% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 406 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,227 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 57,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,370,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period.

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.