Man Group plc Grows Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Man Group plc increased its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 387,956 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 97,855 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned 1.33% of Wingstop worth $110,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $10,177,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,356,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Wingstop by 779.1% during the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,247,000 after acquiring an additional 16,361 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Wingstop by 475.0% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 69,234 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,676,000 after acquiring an additional 57,193 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP grew its position in Wingstop by 149.0% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 5,309 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 3,177 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Gordon Haskett raised Wingstop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $260.00 price target on Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Wingstop from $242.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wingstop has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.09.

Wingstop Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:WING opened at $286.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a PE ratio of 77.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $233.21 and a 200-day moving average of $275.45. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.59% and a net margin of 17.37%. The business’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 517 shares in the company, valued at $141,177.19. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% 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.