Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.13 Million Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 8,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,130,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 1,176.9% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 899,336 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $123,767,000 after purchasing an additional 828,904 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at $61,571,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 64.3% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,079,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $194,216,000 after purchasing an additional 422,727 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,626,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $292,520,000 after purchasing an additional 370,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 18,061.1% during the 1st quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 274,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,444,000 after purchasing an additional 273,265 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $359.57 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 153.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.68. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.08 and a twelve month high of $379.00.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $127.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 15.25%. Wingstop’s revenue was up 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 37.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stephens assumed coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Wingstop from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $290.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,291.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total transaction of $961,888.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $612,246.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total value of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,291.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,120,605. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.