SG Americas Securities LLC Trims Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 71.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,206,062 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $342,763,000 after buying an additional 22,552 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,150,217 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $326,893,000 after buying an additional 262,229 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Wingstop by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 801,732 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,852,000 after acquiring an additional 154,055 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Wingstop by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 573,999 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,131,000 after acquiring an additional 101,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Wingstop by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 547,831 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $155,694,000 after acquiring an additional 14,124 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Trading Down 3.6%

Wingstop stock opened at $343.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $310.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.53. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.52, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.88.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on WING shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Wingstop from $271.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $410.00 price target (up from $360.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $320.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total value of $3,373,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,919,074.60. This represents a 17.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,177.19. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

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.