Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $4.79 Million Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $4,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Wingstop by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth $6,354,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 112.9% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 14.1% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 24,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,342,000 after purchasing an additional 3,028 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Wingstop by 97.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,218 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 5,543 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WING. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $301.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $344.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $376.56. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.85, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $240.60 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.