Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Increases Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 36.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,551 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 5,775 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $6,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter valued at $36,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in Wingstop by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in Wingstop by 53.8% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 384.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop in the fourth quarter worth $71,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WING has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $385.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.72.

Wingstop Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WING opened at $306.02 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.48. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $266.45 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.22, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares in the company, valued at $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.