Comerica Bank Decreases Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Comerica Bank reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 85.6% in the first quarter, selling 56,882 shares and ending with only 9,589 shares, valued at approximately $2.16 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Price T Rowe Associates, increased their stakes in Wingstop significantly, demonstrating continued interest in the company despite Comerica's reduction.
• Analysts have set optimistic price targets for Wingstop, with four analysts rating it as a Strong Buy and a consensus price target of $379.52, reflecting confidence in the company's performance.

Comerica Bank decreased its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 85.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,589 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 56,882 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the first quarter worth $212,672,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 760.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $108,497,000 after acquiring an additional 337,401 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake 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 worth $100,744,000 after acquiring an additional 178,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 95.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 359,304 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $102,114,000 after acquiring an additional 175,236 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,864.58. This represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock traded down $14.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $308.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,449,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 823,223. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The firm's 50-day moving average is $329.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $379.52.

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.