Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in Wingstop by 93.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 106.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 280.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $4,421,118.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WING shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wingstop from $296.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Down 5.0%

Shares of WING stock opened at $325.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $338.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $289.28. The company has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.84. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 18.00%.

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.