Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Shares Sold by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Blueshift Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 88.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,016 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 15,621 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,036,000 after acquiring an additional 3,892 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Wingstop by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,009 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Wingstop by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,057 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Wingstop by 507.0% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 43,378 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,328,000 after purchasing an additional 36,232 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. purchased a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,572,000.

Wingstop Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $220.19 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $263.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $319.30. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.60 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.35, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 29.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WING has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.67.

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.