Wingstop Inc. $WING Shares Sold by Corebridge Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Corebridge Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 2.4%, holding approximately 0.12% of the company, valued at $7.35 million.
• Wingstop recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.00 per share, exceeding expectations of $0.88, with revenues of $174.33 million, a 12% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a dividend increase, raising it from $0.27 to $0.30 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 20%.

Corebridge Financial Inc. cut its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,590 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 803 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Wingstop worth $7,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at about $212,672,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $151,802,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 valued at $371,517,000 after purchasing an additional 496,717 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $108,497,000 after purchasing an additional 337,401 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 446,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $100,744,000 after purchasing an additional 178,041 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WING shares. Benchmark upped their target price on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Wingstop from $296.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stephens increased their price objective on Wingstop from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Wingstop from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $379.52.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock traded down $10.50 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $328.12. 602,225 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 702,695. The company has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.87. The company's 50 day moving average is $331.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.10. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $204.00 and a 1 year high of $433.86.

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

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is an increase from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.00%.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.