Trexquant Investment LP Trims Holdings in Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP significantly reduced its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 78%, selling 14,186 shares and holding only 3,994 shares valued at approximately $901,000.
• Despite some institutional investors increasing their holdings in Wingstop, analysts have forecasted strong growth for the company, with price targets raised significantly by firms such as BTIG and BMO Capital Markets.
• Wingstop recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from the previous $0.27, reflecting a positive outlook for the company's financial performance.

Trexquant Investment LP cut its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 78.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,994 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 14,186 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Wingstop were worth $901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Wingstop by 43.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,262,597 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $284,817,000 after acquiring an additional 56,535 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at about $212,672,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 130.7% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $142,564,000 after acquiring an additional 358,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 446,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $100,744,000 after acquiring an additional 178,041 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on WING shares. BTIG Research upped their price target on Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Wingstop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Truist Financial upgraded Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $274.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Wingstop from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $379.52.

Wingstop Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:WING opened at $309.79 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $328.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.91. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 51.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.87. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $204.00 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total transaction of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 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 $1,666,530.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,842,034.18. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wingstop 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.

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