Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 6,024 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING - Free Report) by 49.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,151 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 6,024 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 284.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $161,957,000 after purchasing an additional 283,412 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 984.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $90,683,000 after acquiring an additional 197,853 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $254,860,000 after acquiring an additional 161,600 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wingstop by 392.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $76,587,000 after purchasing an additional 146,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WING. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $468.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark upgraded shares of Wingstop from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wingstop Trading Down 1.0 %

WING traded down $2.72 during trading on Monday, hitting $271.97. The stock had a trading volume of 205,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,575. Wingstop Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.50 and a 12 month high of $433.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $312.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $360.41. The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 79.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.81.

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

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 issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Wingstop's payout ratio is 31.49%.

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

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.