Conway Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Conway Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,306 shares during the period. Wingstop comprises about 0.8% of Conway Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Conway Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WING. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 7,600 shares during the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,249,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wingstop in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,010,000. 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 worth $193,630,000 after purchasing an additional 134,802 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Wingstop during the 3rd quarter worth $874,000.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Benchmark raised Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Northcoast Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BTIG Research raised Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.16.

Wingstop Trading Up 1.7 %

WING stock opened at $288.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.12, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $303.72 and a 200-day moving average of $352.24. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $266.45 and a 12-month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 31.49%.

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.