Wedbush Research Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Wedbush lifted their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Wingstop in a report issued on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.83 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.81. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $3.03 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s FY2024 earnings at $3.08 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.97 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.66 EPS.

WING has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $340.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $294.17.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $384.79 on Monday. Wingstop has a one year low of $150.08 and a one year high of $392.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $355.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 163.74, a PEG ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.68.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $127.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 15.25% and a negative return on equity of 17.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,291.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Wingstop news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,291.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $612,246.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 0.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 36,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,534,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Wingstop by 144.7% during the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at $997,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at $1,099,000. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at $278,000.

Wingstop Company Profile

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.