Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $216,000 in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 761 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 2nd quarter valued at about $228,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in Wingstop by 4.3% during the second quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Wingstop by 4.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 26,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,279,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 13.2% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,679,000 after buying an additional 2,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 44.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,463 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 448 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WING has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $385.00 to $389.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.16.

Wingstop Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $279.83 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $302.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $350.84. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $266.45 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.58, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.49%.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.