Paragon Advisors LLC Grows Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Paragon Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,986 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Wingstop by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 861,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $358,571,000 after buying an additional 12,549 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 816,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $326,020,000 after acquiring an additional 7,204 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 647,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $269,485,000 after acquiring an additional 46,772 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wingstop by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $274.69 on Monday. Wingstop Inc. has a 52-week low of $256.50 and a 52-week high of $433.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $312.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $360.41. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.08, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Wingstop’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 31.49%.

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.