Dark Forest Capital Management LP Acquires 31 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Wingstop by 60.3% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 93 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 53.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 115 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WING shares. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $379.53.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING opened at $411.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.42, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a fifty day moving average of $386.73 and a 200 day moving average of $383.79. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $170.83 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.33% and a negative return on equity of 21.18%. The firm had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. This is an increase from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.43%.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,152.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.