Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Wingstop Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Investment analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Wingstop in a report issued on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now forecasts that the restaurant operator will earn $0.87 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.93. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Wingstop’s current full-year earnings is $4.18 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Wingstop’s Q2 2025 earnings at $0.85 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.71 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.07 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.06 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.20 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.25 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.62 EPS.

WING has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Northcoast Research cut Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.67.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING opened at $214.65 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $320.00. Wingstop has a fifty-two week low of $205.60 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

Wingstop announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,206,062 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $342,763,000 after acquiring an additional 22,552 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Wingstop by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,150,217 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $326,893,000 after purchasing an additional 262,229 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Wingstop by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 861,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $358,571,000 after purchasing an additional 12,549 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Wingstop by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 816,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $326,020,000 after purchasing an additional 7,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 801,732 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,852,000 after purchasing an additional 154,055 shares during 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.