Strs Ohio Purchases Shares of 50,000 Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Strs Ohio acquired 50,000 shares of Wingstop Inc., valued at approximately $11.3 million, increasing its stake to 0.18% of the company.
• Wingstop announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30, up from $0.27, with an annualized yield of 0.5%.
• The company's stock has shown strong performance, opening at $266.02 with a market cap of $7.43 billion and a projected earnings per share of 4.18 for the current year.

Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 50,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $11,279,000. Strs Ohio owned about 0.18% of Wingstop at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 795 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 6,023 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,371,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Performance

WING stock opened at $266.02 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $323.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.50. 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 $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.87.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is 20.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WING shares. William Blair started coverage on Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Wingstop from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.52.

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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