Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Purchases 158,977 Shares of Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 29.8%, owning approximately 2.48% of the company with a total investment of $156.35 million.
• Wingstop has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30, an increase from the previous $0.27, representing an annual yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 20%.
• The company's earnings report showed $1.00 earnings per share, exceeding estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 12% to $174.33 million.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 29.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 693,115 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 158,977 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned 2.48% of Wingstop worth $156,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WING. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 36,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $10,453,000 after purchasing an additional 9,735 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter worth approximately $269,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 79.2% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,111 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 178,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 167.4% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Price Performance

Wingstop stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $309.79. The company had a trading volume of 353,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 737,585. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.87. The firm's fifty day moving average is $328.02 and its 200-day moving average is $291.73. Wingstop Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $204.00 and a fifty-two week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $174.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.60 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WING. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "overweight" rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $274.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Wingstop from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $379.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wingstop news, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.09, for a total value of $2,030,886.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,144,864.58. The trade was a 39.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.34, for a total transaction of $1,666,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,838 shares of company stock valued at $8,118,535 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.