Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $385.72.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WING. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Northcoast Research raised Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark raised Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth about $26,223,000. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Wingstop by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 66,471 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $18,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 160.8% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,894 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Wingstop by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 289,561 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $82,293,000 after purchasing an additional 46,985 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth about $365,000.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING traded down $7.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $304.69. 641,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 521,474. Wingstop has a 1-year low of $266.45 and a 1-year high of $433.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $293.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $343.35. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.