Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases New Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $874,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Wingstop by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 2,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter worth approximately $2,105,000. Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 11.2% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 7,564 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 60.7% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter worth approximately $1,794,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WING has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $468.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock opened at $322.89 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $240.60 and a one year high of $433.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $346.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $377.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a PE ratio of 94.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.78.

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

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.