Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Shares Down 2.4% – What’s Next?

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) fell 2.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $382.70 and last traded at $383.50. 114,783 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 432,530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $382.00.

Wingstop Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.83, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $395.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $388.46.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $155.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.04 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in Wingstop during the 1st quarter worth $1,355,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 279,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $71,827,000 after acquiring an additional 36,017 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 206.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Wingstop by 1,308.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 24,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,142,000 after purchasing an additional 23,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,696,000.

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.