EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Raises Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. raised its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,671 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Wingstop by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 14,921 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,208,000 after buying an additional 53,542 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Wingstop by 145.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,507 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,956,000 after purchasing an additional 5,630 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 4,770 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,985,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 984.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 217,946 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,683,000 after purchasing an additional 197,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 209.7% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 21,394 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,902,000 after buying an additional 14,485 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WING shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Wingstop from $389.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price (down from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Northcoast Research cut Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.67.

Wingstop Stock Down 1.1 %

WING opened at $220.08 on Wednesday. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.60 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $260.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.24. The company has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 59.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.