Carnegie Investment Counsel Acquires 8,746 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,675 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 8,746 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel owned 0.12% of Wingstop worth $10,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $81,703,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,249,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,010,000. Conway Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,544,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wingstop by 40.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $193,630,000 after acquiring an additional 134,802 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WING traded down $1.88 during trading on Friday, reaching $272.92. The company had a trading volume of 451,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,714. The stock has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.57, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.81. The company's fifty day moving average price is $309.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $357.12. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $266.45 and a 12 month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Wingstop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Wingstop from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.74.

Wingstop Company 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.