Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 248 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wingstop during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 115 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,152.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $419.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.43, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $381.87 and its 200 day moving average is $381.43. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $166.65 and a one year high of $431.03.

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

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid 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 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 38.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WING has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Wingstop from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $379.53.

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.