Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 30.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,486 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 29,668 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Wingstop worth $28,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.4% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 12,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,460,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Burney Co. now owns 4,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Wingstop by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,266 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop in the second quarter valued at $230,000.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total value of $86,285.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WING. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.74.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $291.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of 85.06, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78. Wingstop Inc. has a one year low of $241.78 and a one year high of $433.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $329.47 and a 200 day moving average of $371.98.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop declared 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 reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.49%.

Wingstop 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.