Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Makes New $226,000 Investment in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC has purchased a new position in Wingstop Inc., buying 1,000 shares valued at approximately $226,000 in the first quarter.
• Wingstop recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.00 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced an increased dividend from $0.27 to $0.30 per share.
• Analysts have given Wingstop a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target averaging $379.52, amid varied upgrades in price predictions from several research firms.

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,150,217 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $326,893,000 after purchasing an additional 262,229 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth approximately $151,802,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its stake in 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 last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 387,956 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $110,257,000 after purchasing an additional 97,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 760.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $108,497,000 after purchasing an additional 337,401 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of WING traded down $8.71 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $330.92. The stock had a trading volume of 566,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 823,392. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 55.15, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.84. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $336.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.64.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $174.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is 20.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. This represents a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 have sold 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.