Stifel Financial Corp Has $7.24 Million Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,403 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,532 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $7,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 284.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $161,957,000 after purchasing an additional 283,412 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 984.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,683,000 after purchasing an additional 197,853 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 36.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $254,860,000 after purchasing an additional 161,600 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 392.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,587,000 after purchasing an additional 146,692 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WING has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Northcoast Research raised shares of 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING opened at $301.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $344.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $376.66. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $240.60 and a 1 year high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. Wingstop’s revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

Wingstop announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.