Wall Street Zen Downgrades Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to Sell

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. William Blair assumed coverage on Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Melius assumed coverage on Wingstop in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Wingstop from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.52.

Wingstop Stock Down 3.2%

WING stock opened at $266.02 on Friday. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $204.00 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $323.32 and its 200-day moving average is $293.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.87.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The company had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at $212,672,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Wingstop by 43.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 130.7% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $142,564,000 after buying an additional 358,044 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wingstop during the second quarter valued at $118,211,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in Wingstop during the second quarter valued at $114,758,000.

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.