Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating restated by research analysts at Stephens in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $468.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock. Stephens' target price indicates a potential upside of 60.24% from the company's previous close.

WING has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING stock traded up $7.86 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $292.06. The company had a trading volume of 450,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,087. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.15, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78. The firm's fifty day moving average is $319.48 and its 200 day moving average is $367.38. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $241.78 and a 12 month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 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 analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Wingstop's quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. State Street Corp increased its position in Wingstop by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 861,783 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $358,571,000 after acquiring an additional 12,549 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 816,991 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $326,020,000 after purchasing an additional 7,204 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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 valued at $269,485,000 after buying an additional 46,772 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $254,860,000 after buying an additional 161,600 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Wingstop by 40.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 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.