Renaissance Technologies LLC Boosts Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 36.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 161,600 shares during the quarter. Wingstop makes up about 0.4% of Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $254,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 93 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 115 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WING. Wedbush raised their price objective on Wingstop from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on Wingstop from $418.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $379.53.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $394.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $379.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $379.67. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.84 and a fifty-two week high of $431.03.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.04 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 38.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,152.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.