State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stake in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Wingstop Inc. by 9.1%, ending the quarter with 10,033 shares valued at approximately $2.26 million.
• Several institutional investors, including MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB and UMB Bank n.a., made significant purchases, increasing their holdings in Wingstop by 93.9% and 280.3%, respectively, during the same period.
• Wingstop's recent earnings report showed $1.00 EPS, exceeding estimates, and the company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30 per share, effective September 5th.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,033 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,009 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth $291,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Wingstop by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 285,743 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $81,214,000 after buying an additional 18,958 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Wingstop by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 17,762 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,048,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,352 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Truist Financial raised Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $274.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital upgraded Wingstop to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $379.52.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 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 $1,666,530.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm's 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,838 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,935. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING traded up $13.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $332.19. The company had a trading volume of 980,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,587. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $204.00 and a 1 year high of $433.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.37, a P/E/G ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.84. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $333.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.25.

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, 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

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.