AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 215,816 Shares of Wingstop Inc. $WING

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Wingstop Inc. by 64.4%, acquiring an additional 215,816 shares, bringing its total ownership to 550,879 shares valued at approximately $123 million.
• Wingstop's recent quarterly earnings surpassed analysts' expectations, reporting $1.00 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.88, with revenue rising by 12% year-over-year to $174.33 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.20 and a dividend yield of 0.4%.

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 64.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 550,879 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 215,816 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 1.97% of Wingstop worth $123,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 795 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 141 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 93.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 1.1% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 6,023 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.1% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,371,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on WING shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Wingstop from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $420.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $379.52.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,144,864.58. This trade represents a 39.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,838 shares of company stock worth $8,118,535. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Wingstop Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of WING stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $309.79. 353,843 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 700,325. The company has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 51.63, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.87. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.00 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $328.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.22.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Wingstop's payout ratio is 20.00%.

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.