Wingstop Inc. $WING Shares Sold by Fred Alger Management LLC

Key Points

• Fred Alger Management LLC has reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 33.4%, owning now 156,134 shares valued at $35.2 million after selling 78,412 shares in the first quarter.
• CFO Alex Kaleida and SVP Marisa Carona have both sold significant amounts of Wingstop stock, with Kaleida selling 5,400 shares worth over $2 million, while Carona sold 11,938 shares for approximately $4.4 million.
• Wingstop recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, indicating a positive change from the previous dividend, with a yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 20%.

Fred Alger Management LLC cut its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 33.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 156,134 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 78,412 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.56% of Wingstop worth $35,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Wingstop by 93.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 106.9% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $70,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Wingstop from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wingstop Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:WING traded down $8.57 on Friday, reaching $266.13. The company had a trading volume of 697,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 826,915. Wingstop Inc. has a 52-week low of $204.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $324.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 44.36, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

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.