Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Increases Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 4.1% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $81,703,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $5,010,000. Conway Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $3,544,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 40.8% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 465,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $193,630,000 after buying an additional 134,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop during the third quarter worth about $874,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WING has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $385.00 to $389.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of WING opened at $279.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.58, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $302.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $351.06. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $266.45 and a 1 year high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.05% and a negative return on equity of 22.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

Wingstop announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.