Xponance Inc. Acquires 241 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,009 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 241 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $1,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WING. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $115,301,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 984.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,683,000 after buying an additional 197,853 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 392.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,587,000 after buying an additional 146,692 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Wingstop by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 418,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $174,095,000 after buying an additional 71,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,653,000.

Wingstop Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WING opened at $215.46 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $262.51 and its 200-day moving average is $317.74. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.60 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The firm has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

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

Wingstop Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WING. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.67.

Wingstop 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.