OFI Invest Asset Management Trims Stake in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• OFI Invest Asset Management has reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 12.6%, selling 11,656 shares, and now owns approximately 0.29% of the company, valued at $27.3 million.
• Several other hedge funds have significantly increased their positions in Wingstop, with notable increases from Signaturefd LLC and Geneos Wealth Management Inc., both raising their stakes over 100% during the recent quarters.
• Wingstop announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30 per share, raising its annualized dividend to $1.20, with a current yield of 0.5% and a payout ratio of 20%.

OFI Invest Asset Management reduced its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 12.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,956 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,656 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management owned about 0.29% of Wingstop worth $27,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WING. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Wingstop during the second quarter valued at $43,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 121.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 217 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Wingstop by 280.3% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 22.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total value of $4,421,118.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,864.58. This represents a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WING. Melius began coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $374.54.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING stock opened at $241.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 40.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $204.00 and a 12 month high of $407.09. The firm's 50-day moving average is $294.32 and its 200 day moving average is $298.14.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued 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 positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.00%.

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.

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