Vest Financial LLC Invests $798,000 in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Vest Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,539 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $798,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Wingstop by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 256 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Wingstop by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,170 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 268,560 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $76,325,000 after purchasing an additional 51,231 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,536 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WING traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $381.00. 998,545 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 632,448. The company has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88. Wingstop Inc. has a 52-week low of $204.00 and a 52-week high of $433.86. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $283.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.02.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.59% and a net margin of 17.37%. The business had revenue of $171.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Wingstop's revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Wingstop's payout ratio is 18.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WING. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $315.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $350.96.

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.