Bridges Investment Management Inc. Buys New Position in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 784 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WING. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop during the second quarter valued at $43,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 106.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 121.4% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 217 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 16.8% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WING shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Stephens set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.73.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Trading Up 4.4%

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $257.04 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $388.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $286.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $298.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

Wingstop 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.