Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Rating Increased to Buy at Benchmark

Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $340.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised Wingstop from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $371.95.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ WING traded down $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $289.77. 654,099 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 448,090. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.03, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.71. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $177.88 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $392.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $388.27.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. Wingstop's payout ratio is presently 38.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 97 shares in the company, valued at $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 284.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $161,957,000 after acquiring an additional 283,412 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $254,860,000 after buying an additional 161,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 66.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $137,753,000 after acquiring an additional 130,248 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,071,473,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Wingstop by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,273,542 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $833,026,000 after acquiring an additional 101,917 shares during 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.