Short Interest in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Grows By 35.3%

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,530,000 shares, a growth of 35.3% from the April 30th total of 1,870,000 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 932,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 517 shares in the company, valued at $141,177.19. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total transaction of $3,373,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,919,074.60. The trade was a 17.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wingstop

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Wingstop by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 256 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 56.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,188 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 269,596 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $76,619,000 after acquiring an additional 39,086 shares during the period. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 815 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period.

Wingstop Price Performance

Shares of WING traded up $6.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $371.65. The stock had a trading volume of 754,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 627,974. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $272.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $276.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 100.18, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.80. Wingstop has a 12 month low of $204.00 and a 12 month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $171.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.25 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.59% and a net margin of 17.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Wingstop will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Wingstop's payout ratio is 18.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Northcoast Research lowered Wingstop from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Wingstop from $271.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price target on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.35.

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.