Xponance Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 36,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,453,000 after purchasing an additional 9,735 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in Wingstop during the first quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in Wingstop by 79.2% during the first quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,111 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Wingstop by 167.4% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Wingstop by 16.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,225 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,872,000 after buying an additional 11,329 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WING has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $367.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.40.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $317.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $334.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.07. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.84.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 18.85%. The firm had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is 18.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total transaction of $3,373,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 47,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,919,074.60. This represents a 17.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total transaction of $173,945.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,177.19. The trade was a 55.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wingstop 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.