Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,479 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 13.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,643 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,479 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $4,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WING. Vestcor Inc increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,589,000 after purchasing an additional 5,572 shares in the last quarter. Conway Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,544,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in Wingstop by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,794,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 3rd quarter valued at about $874,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 2,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $301.33 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $240.60 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $344.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $376.66. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.85, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The company had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.27 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. 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. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.