King Luther Capital Management Corp Boosts Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 7.3%, holding a total of 18,690 shares valued at approximately $4.22 million at the end of the most recent quarter.
• Wingstop recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.00, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.88, along with a revenue of $174.33 million, up 12.0% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a dividend increase, with a quarterly payout of $0.30 per share, reflecting a boost from the previous $0.27 and indicating a 0.4% yield.

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,690 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 1,266 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.07% of Wingstop worth $4,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WING. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in Wingstop by 93.9% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 106.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 149 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Wingstop by 280.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 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 $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at $15,842,034.18. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,838 shares of company stock worth $11,491,935. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $342.73. The stock had a trading volume of 564,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 885,129. The firm has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.12, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $339.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.05. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented 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. Benchmark raised their price objective on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Wingstop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $379.52.

Wingstop Company 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.