Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 47.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 268,657 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 86,077 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $76,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WING. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Wingstop in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 521.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Wingstop by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 91 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Wingstop during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wingstop by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Price Performance

NASDAQ WING opened at $229.29 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $258.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $313.98. Wingstop Inc. has a 1 year low of $205.60 and a 1 year high of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.80, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.88.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors 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 buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 29.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WING has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim upgraded Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Northcoast Research downgraded Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.68.

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.