Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Trims Stake in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lowered its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its position in Wingstop by 7.3% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 16,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,734,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 1st quarter valued at about $753,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 61.3% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 5.3% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the first quarter worth approximately $11,400,000.

Wingstop Trading Up 8.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $262.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $246.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.45. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $388.14.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.18. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 25.51%.The company had revenue of $175.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Wingstop’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WING has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised shares of Wingstop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $370.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Wingstop from $340.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Wingstop from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $335.96.

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.