Insider Selling: Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) CFO Sells 5,400 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Wingstop Inc. CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares at an average price of $376.09, resulting in a total transaction value of $2,030,886 and a 39.24% decrease in ownership of his stock.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.27 to $0.30, with an annual yield of 0.3%, to be paid on September 5th.
• Wingstop's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $1.00, exceeding analyst expectations, alongside a revenue growth of 12.0% year-over-year.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) CFO Alex Kaleida sold 5,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wingstop Price Performance

WING traded down $14.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $362.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,199,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 770,947. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $340.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.90. The firm has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.84. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $204.00 and a one year high of $433.86.

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

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is a boost from Wingstop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Wingstop's payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wingstop

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WING. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 1st quarter valued at about $212,672,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at about $151,802,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,646,934 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $371,517,000 after buying an additional 496,717 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 130.7% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 631,989 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $142,564,000 after buying an additional 358,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $108,497,000 after buying an additional 337,401 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WING has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler began coverage on Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Wingstop from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Wingstop from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. BTIG Research raised their price target on Wingstop from $350.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Wingstop from $367.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $379.52.

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.

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