Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $218.50 and last traded at $219.70, with a volume of 20479 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $224.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on WING shares. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Benchmark cut their price target on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group cut their price target on Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities cut their price target on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.67.

Wingstop Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $334.06. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 59.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 29.11%.

Wingstop announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits 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 board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WING. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 7.2% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,422,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 3.9% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 1,873 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 942.3% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 34.9% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 12,175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,066,000 after purchasing an additional 3,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Wingstop by 64.2% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 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.