Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $384.72.

WING has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING opened at $265.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 77.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $258.50 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $291.76 and its 200 day moving average is $341.94.

Wingstop declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WING. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,301,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $108,497,000 after purchasing an additional 337,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at $77,855,000.

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.