Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,225 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 11,329 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.28% of Wingstop worth $17,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WING. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 93.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WING has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. William Blair started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $360.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $358.83.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 517 shares in the company, valued at $141,177.19. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total value of $3,373,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,919,074.60. The trade was a 17.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wingstop Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of WING opened at $330.16 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a 52-week low of $204.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $331.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.48. The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of 55.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.84.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.25 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Wingstop's payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

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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