Vest Financial LLC Has $1.49 Million Stake in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 24.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,421 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 109.4% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 279,909 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $93,895,000 after buying an additional 146,255 shares during the last quarter. Index Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the second quarter valued at approximately $376,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 188.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,138 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after buying an additional 6,620 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 26.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WoodTrust Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the second quarter valued at approximately $261,000.

Wingstop Stock Up 0.0%

WING stock opened at $254.99 on Wednesday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $204.00 and a 12 month high of $401.26. The firm has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.78. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $290.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.53.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $4,421,118.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on WING. Stephens set a $375.00 price target on Wingstop in a report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 price target on Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.62.

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.