Wedbush Issues Negative Outlook for Wingstop Earnings

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) – Investment analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Wingstop in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.86 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.09. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target 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 Q4 2025 earnings at $1.01 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.76 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on WING. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.90.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING opened at $238.86 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $286.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $338.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a PE ratio of 64.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $231.28 and a 12 month high of $433.86.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

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 $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.11%.

Wingstop declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’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 value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 949 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 87,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,868,000 after buying an additional 11,577 shares in the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 130.5% in the fourth quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 36,202 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,289,000 after buying an additional 20,493 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 795 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 29.9% in the fourth quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 707 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.