Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $2.80 Million Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 35.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,427 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,150,217 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $326,893,000 after buying an additional 262,229 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 801,732 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $227,852,000 after acquiring an additional 154,055 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Wingstop by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 573,999 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $163,131,000 after purchasing an additional 101,247 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Wingstop by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 547,831 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $155,694,000 after purchasing an additional 14,124 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $151,802,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 target price (down from $425.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

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

Wingstop Stock Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $320.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $339.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $283.33. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $204.00 and a one year high of $433.86. The company has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.84.

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

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Wingstop's payout ratio is 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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