The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 1,175 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 4.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.09% of Wingstop worth $11,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Wingstop by 284.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $161,957,000 after purchasing an additional 283,412 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $254,860,000 after buying an additional 161,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 66.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $137,753,000 after buying an additional 130,248 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wingstop by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,473,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,273,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $833,026,000 after buying an additional 101,917 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at $36,152.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $414.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $389.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a PE ratio of 147.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.71. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $170.83 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is presently 38.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $379.53.

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.