Kovack Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,626,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $292,520,000 after purchasing an additional 370,032 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,167,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $209,915,000 after purchasing an additional 121,134 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,107,852 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,253,000 after purchasing an additional 19,540 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 64.3% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,079,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $194,216,000 after buying an additional 422,727 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 506,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $91,070,000 after buying an additional 130,958 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WING. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wingstop from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Wingstop from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $340.00 target price on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $294.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total transaction of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,450 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,291.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Marisa Carona sold 2,586 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.96, for a total value of $961,888.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,646 shares in the company, valued at $612,246.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kilandigalu Madati sold 1,472 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.87, for a total value of $500,288.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,291.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,901 shares of company stock worth $5,120,605 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wingstop Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $382.56 on Friday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $150.08 and a 12-month high of $383.98. The company has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 162.79, a P/E/G ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 1.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $354.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.55.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.47 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company’s revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.45%.

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.