Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $93.90 Million Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 109.4% to 279,909 shares, representing a value of approximately $93.90 million as of the end of the second quarter.
• Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of Wingstop, with T. Rowe Price acquiring a new stake worth over $212 million and other funds significantly boosting their positions during the first quarter.
• Wingstop announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30 per share, reflecting a 0.5% yield and a payout ratio of 20.00%.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 109.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 279,909 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 146,255 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned 1.00% of Wingstop worth $93,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 1st quarter worth about $212,672,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in 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 worth $371,517,000 after purchasing an additional 496,717 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 64.4% in 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 during the period. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 66.3% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 446,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $100,744,000 after buying an additional 178,041 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WING. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim raised their price target on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 over the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wingstop Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $254.90 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $292.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.83. The company has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.48, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $204.00 and a 1 year high of $407.09.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. Wingstop's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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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