Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.27

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th.

Wingstop has raised its dividend by an average of 17.9% annually over the last three years. Wingstop has a payout ratio of 22.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Wingstop to earn $4.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.2%.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ:WING traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $291.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 871,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 449,242. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $392.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $388.27. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $177.88 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.71.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James upgraded Wingstop from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on Wingstop from $490.00 to $468.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $371.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of Wingstop 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 97 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

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.