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

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th.

Wingstop has raised its dividend by an average of 16.5% per year over the last three years. Wingstop has a payout ratio of 19.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Wingstop to earn $4.28 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 25.2%.

Wingstop Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of WING stock traded down $17.93 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $247.09. 1,947,937 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 727,895. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $242.58 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $291.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wingstop announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WING. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 report on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark cut their price target on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.05.

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.