Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 155 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,227 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WING. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,177,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 3,507 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 779.1% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,247,000 after acquiring an additional 16,361 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 475.0% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 69,234 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,676,000 after acquiring an additional 57,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conway Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the third quarter worth about $3,544,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lowered their price target on Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Wingstop from $335.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.67.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $215.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $262.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.12. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.60 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 58.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

Wingstop announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 29.11%.

Wingstop Company 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.