Castleark Management LLC Invests $5.78 Million in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,778,000. Castleark Management LLC owned 0.06% of Wingstop at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 2nd quarter valued at about $218,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 141.4% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,057 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,713,000 after acquiring an additional 4,720 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 6.3% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,208 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 94.3% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,058 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Wingstop by 54.5% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,052 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock opened at $235.89 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $246.89 and its 200 day moving average is $294.76. Wingstop Inc. has a 1-year low of $204.00 and a 1-year high of $388.14. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.75.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WING shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Wingstop from $345.00 to $280.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Wingstop from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Monday, December 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price (down previously from $420.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.81.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 269 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.97, for a total value of $69,931.93. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,373,421.51. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate 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.