AQR Capital Management LLC Has $137.75 Million Stock Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 66.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 130,248 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $137,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 44,735 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,478,000 after buying an additional 2,861 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Wingstop by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 13,280 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,407,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at $907,000. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth $530,000.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 approximately $36,152.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $475.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $379.53.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING stock opened at $426.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.71. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $170.83 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $385.89 and a 200-day moving average of $383.01.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $155.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business’s revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.43%.

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.