Morgan Stanley Upgrades Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) to “Overweight”

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $389.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $385.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 37.17% from the stock’s current price.

WING has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. 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. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.16.

Wingstop Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $283.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $304.56 and a 200 day moving average of $352.69. Wingstop has a twelve month low of $266.45 and a twelve month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Wingstop will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Wingstop by 284.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $161,957,000 after buying an additional 283,412 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 984.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,683,000 after buying an additional 197,853 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 392.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,587,000 after acquiring an additional 146,692 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 134,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Wingstop by 66.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $137,753,000 after purchasing an additional 130,248 shares in the last quarter.

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.