Advisors Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,057 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Wingstop by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 861,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $358,571,000 after purchasing an additional 12,549 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 816,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $326,020,000 after buying an additional 7,204 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 7.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 647,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,485,000 after buying an additional 46,772 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Wingstop by 20.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 418,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $174,095,000 after buying an additional 71,300 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter worth approximately $115,301,000.

Wingstop Trading Down 2.1 %

WING stock opened at $215.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.08, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.60 and a twelve month high of $433.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $262.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $317.74.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 29.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WING. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price target on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.