Clare Market Investments LLC Invests $514,000 in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WING. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at $115,301,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $108,497,000 after acquiring an additional 337,401 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at $77,855,000.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other news, CEO Michael Skipworth sold 10,000 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.34, for a total transaction of $3,373,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,919,074.60. This trade represents a 17.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 637 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.07, for a total value of $173,945.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 517 shares in the company, valued at $141,177.19. The trade was a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WING shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Wingstop from $315.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $274.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Wingstop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $345.30.

Wingstop Stock Up 5.5%

NASDAQ:WING opened at $365.60 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $269.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $276.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 98.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.80. Wingstop Inc. has a twelve month low of $204.00 and a twelve month high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $171.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.25 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.59% and a net margin of 17.37%. Wingstop’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

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.