Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Increases Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 820 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 235.2% during the fourth quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,825 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after buying an additional 7,596 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the first quarter worth about $1,355,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Wingstop by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 279,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $71,827,000 after buying an additional 36,017 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new position in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,006,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth approximately $807,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WING has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $379.53.

Wingstop Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $419.90 on Monday. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $166.65 and a twelve month high of $431.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a PE ratio of 149.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $381.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $381.51.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 38.43%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at $36,152.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.