Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James Financial

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $420.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.69% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on WING. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Wingstop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Up 3.5%

NASDAQ WING opened at $336.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.14, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.46. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $204.00 and a twelve month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the first quarter valued at approximately $212,672,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $151,802,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Wingstop by 43.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $371,517,000 after purchasing an additional 496,717 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 130.7% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $142,564,000 after acquiring an additional 358,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter worth $118,211,000.

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.