Optimist Retirement Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 33.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 815 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 269,596 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,619,000 after purchasing an additional 39,086 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 131.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,376,000 after buying an additional 8,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,188 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Benchmark upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.32.

Wingstop Trading Down 0.5 %

WING stock opened at $305.39 on Thursday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $266.45 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 89.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $297.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $346.83.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.