The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Price Target to $458.00

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) had its target price upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $407.00 to $458.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WING. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $398.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $377.53.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING opened at $362.70 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $393.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $362.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.70. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $150.08 and a 12 month high of $431.03.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.33% and a negative return on equity of 21.18%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Albert G. Mcgrath sold 4,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.40, for a total transaction of $1,676,772.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,170 shares in the company, valued at $3,238,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Albert G. Mcgrath sold 4,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $396.40, for a total transaction of $1,676,772.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,238,588. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 645 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.74, for a total transaction of $255,252.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,036,873.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,191 shares of company stock valued at $2,443,547. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Wingstop by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $224,093,000 after buying an additional 531,880 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter worth about $103,899,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $80,423,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,616,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Wingstop by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,473,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the period.

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.