Raymond James & Associates Grows Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,908 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,440 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.17% of Wingstop worth $20,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WING. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Wingstop in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Wingstop by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 93 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 384.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WING has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James raised shares of Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $382.88.

Wingstop Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $360.38 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $173.74 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $394.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $388.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.25, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.71.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 38.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.