Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 8,757 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 131.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 8,757 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $4,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WING. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 984.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,683,000 after acquiring an additional 197,853 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 392.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,587,000 after purchasing an additional 146,692 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 40.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Wingstop by 20.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 418,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $174,095,000 after purchasing an additional 71,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Wingstop by 41,244.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 65,325 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,180,000 after buying an additional 65,167 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $305.76 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $266.45 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $348.99. The stock has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of 89.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $162.50 million during 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Wingstop

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.