Short Interest in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Declines By 14.2%

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, a decrease of 14.2% from the January 31st total of 1,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 662,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its stake in Wingstop by 53.8% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000.

Wingstop Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $229.51 on Wednesday. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $218.23 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $281.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $334.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WING has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Wingstop from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.67.

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.