VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys Shares of 5,714 Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems acquired a new stake in Wingstop Inc. by purchasing 5,714 shares valued at approximately $1,924,000 in the second quarter.
• Insider sales were reported, with SVP Marisa Carona selling 11,938 shares and CEO Michael Skipworth selling 4,500 shares on August 1st, representing ownership decreases of 9.52% for the CEO.
• Wingstop recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.27 to $0.30 per share, reflecting a positive trend in their financial distributions to investors.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,714 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,924,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi raised its position in Wingstop by 289.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 18,595 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,514,000 after purchasing an additional 13,817 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position 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 worth $100,744,000 after acquiring an additional 178,041 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,225 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,872,000 after acquiring an additional 11,329 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 501.1% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,112 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 47,200 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $10,431,000 after acquiring an additional 11,525 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 11,938 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $4,421,118.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535 in the last ninety days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING stock opened at $266.89 on Wednesday. Wingstop Inc. has a 1-year low of $204.00 and a 1-year high of $388.14. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $283.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.24. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 25.61%.The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on WING shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $315.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.73.

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.

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