Whittier Trust Co. Lowers Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Whittier Trust Co. decreased its stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 17.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,884 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,534 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. owned approximately 0.07% of Wingstop worth $8,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 284.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $161,957,000 after buying an additional 283,412 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Wingstop by 36.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $254,860,000 after purchasing an additional 161,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 66.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $137,753,000 after purchasing an additional 130,248 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,473,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Wingstop by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,273,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $833,026,000 after buying an additional 101,917 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WING opened at $368.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a PE ratio of 131.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $396.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $388.63. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $173.74 and a 1 year high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Wingstop’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at $36,152.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WING has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $382.00.

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.