Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC cut its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 64.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 54,569 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.10% of Wingstop worth $12,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 5.0% in the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Wingstop by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 0.3% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,794,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $301.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization 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 1-year low of $240.60 and a 1-year high of $433.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $344.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $376.49.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WING. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $468.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.74.

Wingstop 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.