Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 927 Shares of Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 501.1% during the first quarter, now owning 1,112 shares valued at $251,000.
• Wingstop reported $1.00 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.88, with revenues of $174.33 million.
• The company is increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.30, up from $0.27, with an ex-dividend date set for August 15th.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 501.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,112 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Wingstop were worth $251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 225.4% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 496,717 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at $212,672,000. Pinnacle Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at $580,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Wingstop by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 297,834 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,185,000 after buying an additional 8,273 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WING traded up $0.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $309.79. 353,843 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 737,585. The company's 50 day moving average is $328.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 51.63, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.87. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. The firm 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 was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given 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 was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Insider Activity

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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WING. Truist Financial raised Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $274.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Westpark Capital raised Wingstop to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Wingstop from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Melius began coverage on Wingstop in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.