Navellier & Associates Inc. Sells 1,528 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Navellier & Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,528 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $2,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its stake in Wingstop by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Wingstop by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,794,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Wingstop by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 897 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 758 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter.

Wingstop Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of WING opened at $234.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.08, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.81. Wingstop Inc. has a 1-year low of $232.19 and a 1-year high of $433.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.46.

Wingstop declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wingstop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Wingstop’s payout ratio is 29.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wingstop 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WING. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (down previously from $375.00) on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Wingstop from $340.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Wingstop from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Wingstop from $359.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.05.

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.