Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 145,532 Shares of Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. has reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 25.4%, selling 145,532 shares and holding 428,467 shares worth approximately $96.65 million after the sale.
• Several hedge funds, including T. Rowe Price and Champlain Investment Partners, have increased their positions in Wingstop significantly during the first quarter, reflecting strong investor interest.
• Wingstop reported a 12% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share of $1.00, surpassing analyst expectations and indicating positive financial performance.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 25.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 428,467 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 145,532 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 1.54% of Wingstop worth $96,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,672,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 43.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $371,517,000 after purchasing an additional 496,717 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 130.7% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $142,564,000 after purchasing an additional 358,044 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 64.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 550,879 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $123,295,000 after purchasing an additional 215,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in Wingstop by 66.3% during the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 446,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $100,744,000 after acquiring an additional 178,041 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,842,034.18. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WING. Truist Financial raised shares of Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $274.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock opened at $309.79 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $328.02 and its 200 day moving average is $291.73. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $204.00 and a one year high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 51.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.87.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.00%.

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.

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