Wingstop Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:WING)

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 4,384 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 168% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,638 put options.

Wingstop Trading Down 13.4 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $265.02 on Thursday. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $258.50 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.94.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % 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. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WING. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,356,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Conway Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,544,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,010,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 40.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter worth approximately $874,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WING. Barclays cut their target price on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.72.

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.