Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,810,000 shares, a growth of 36.1% from the November 30th total of 1,330,000 shares. Currently, 6.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 518,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on WING shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Wingstop from $375.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $458.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wingstop by 4.1% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 193,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $81,703,000 after acquiring an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wingstop during the second quarter worth $2,249,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter valued at about $5,010,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop by 36.6% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Conway Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Wingstop during the third quarter worth about $3,544,000.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $285.37 on Monday. Wingstop has a 1 year low of $241.78 and a 1 year high of $433.86. The company has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 83.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $324.38 and a 200 day moving average of $369.90.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 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 company had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Wingstop will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.49%.

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

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.