Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) Short Interest Down 14.2% in February

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, a drop of 14.2% from the January 31st total of 1,900,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 662,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WING. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Wingstop from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $458.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Wingstop from $365.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.67.

Wingstop Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WING opened at $230.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop has a 12-month low of $218.23 and a 12-month high of $433.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $280.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $332.94.

Wingstop Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.11%.

Wingstop announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In related news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wingstop

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WING. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Wingstop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $151,802,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $115,301,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $106,123,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Wingstop by 760.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 381,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $108,497,000 after acquiring an additional 337,401 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Wingstop in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $77,855,000.

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.