Wingstop Inc. (WING) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 7th

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date 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. 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 Stock Down 6.8 %

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

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction 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. 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 this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WING has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price target on Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.05.

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.