Engineers Gate Manager LP Acquires Shares of 2,890 Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Wingstop by 3.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 93,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,942,000 after purchasing an additional 3,423 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the first quarter valued at about $271,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Wingstop by 1.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 80,599 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Wingstop by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 10,931 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Wingstop by 1.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,586,391 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $420,864,000 after acquiring an additional 51,296 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $165.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 1.59. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $67.67 and a one year high of $193.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $158.68 and its 200-day moving average is $148.04.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $104.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.96 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 14.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 42.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Krishnan Anand sold 862 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.21, for a total transaction of $149,307.02. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $630,311.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Krishnan Anand sold 862 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.21, for a total transaction of $149,307.02. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $630,311.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 1,088 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total value of $187,680.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,036,207.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WING shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Wingstop from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. BTIG Research cut Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut Wingstop from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Cowen increased their target price on Wingstop from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Wingstop from $143.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.82.

Wingstop Company Profile

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Wingstop, Inc is a franchisor and operator of restaurants, which engages in the provision of cooked-to-order, hand-sauced, and tossed chicken wings. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Addison, TX.