Panagora Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 544 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,266 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,648,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 1.2% in the second quarter. Burney Co. now owns 4,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 3.8% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 12,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,460,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 4.4% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 4,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $378.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total transaction of $1,192,299.29. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,152.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:WING opened at $379.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $384.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $377.01. Wingstop Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.08 and a 52-week high of $431.03. The firm has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.11, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.70.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.33% and a negative return on equity of 21.18%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.43%.

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.