Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $389.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $385.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Northcoast Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.16.

Wingstop Stock Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $288.53 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $303.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $352.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $266.45 and a 1 year high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The firm had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Wingstop will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 861,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $358,571,000 after purchasing an additional 12,549 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Wingstop by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 816,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $326,020,000 after buying an additional 7,204 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 7.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 647,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,485,000 after purchasing an additional 46,772 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 40.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Wingstop by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 418,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $174,095,000 after purchasing an additional 71,300 shares in 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.