Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 45,516 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 7.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 532,917 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 45,516 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $221,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,589,000 after buying an additional 5,572 shares during the period. Conway Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $3,544,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Wingstop by 0.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,794,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Wingstop in the third quarter worth about $874,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 2,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WING. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Trading Down 6.7 %

NASDAQ WING opened at $301.33 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $240.60 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of 87.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $344.52 and its 200 day moving average is $376.56.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 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 company had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. Wingstop’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.