Aigen Investment Management LP Grows Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP increased its shares in Wingstop Inc. by 135.3% in Q1, acquiring an additional 8,106 shares and now owns a total of 14,098 shares valued at approximately $3.18 million.
• Wingstop recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, a positive increase from the previous dividend of $0.27, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%.
• Wingstop reported a better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $1.00, surpassing estimates and showing a 12% revenue increase year over year.

Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 135.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,098 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 8,106 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP owned about 0.05% of Wingstop worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 93.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 106.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wingstop by 280.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WING. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Wingstop to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $296.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock traded up $13.61 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $342.16. 600,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 884,240. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.03, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.84. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $339.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.68.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Wingstop's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $4,421,118.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. This represents a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.