Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Shares Acquired by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,997 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 127 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 114.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,581 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 4,571 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter worth about $474,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter worth about $59,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 111.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,116,000 after buying an additional 14,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the first quarter worth about $1,528,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 6,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.15, for a total transaction of $1,106,339.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,570.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WING has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $200.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Wingstop from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Wingstop from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $204.21.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock opened at $210.94 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.46 and a 1 year high of $223.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $179.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.45. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.71, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.47.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.17. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 15.75%. The firm had revenue of $117.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Wingstop’s revenue was up 26.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.26%.

About Wingstop

Wingstop Inc, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates restaurants under the Wingstop brand name. Its restaurants offer classic wings, boneless wings, and tenders that are cooked-to-order, and hand-sauced-and-tossed in various flavors. Wingstop Inc was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Addison, Texas.