Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target Lowered to $340.00 at Benchmark

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its target price cut by Benchmark from $410.00 to $340.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on WING. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $440.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $296.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.72.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock opened at $251.84 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $307.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.55. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $204.00 and a 12 month high of $425.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The business had revenue of $174.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is 20.00%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,842,034.18. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Wingstop by 2.2% in the second quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,569 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 34 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.