Wingstop Inc. $WING Shares Sold by Copeland Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Copeland Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Wingstop by 7.5%, selling 19,575 shares, and now holds about 242,682 shares valued at approximately $81.72 million.
• Wingstop recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.00 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $174.33 million—up 12% year over year.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.27 to $0.30 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.20 and a yield of 0.5%.

Copeland Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 242,682 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 19,575 shares during the quarter. Wingstop makes up about 1.7% of Copeland Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Copeland Capital Management LLC owned about 0.87% of Wingstop worth $81,721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 22.3% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Wingstop by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,569 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 188 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Up 1.0%

WING opened at $265.25 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $204.00 and a twelve month high of $425.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $304.50 and a 200-day moving average of $296.35. The stock has a market cap of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of 44.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.78.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 25.61% and a negative return on equity of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $174.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Wingstop's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS 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. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WING has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $405.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $376.92.

Insider Transactions at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $15,842,034.18. This represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer 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 ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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