American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,164,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 140,265 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 3.98% of Wingstop worth $492,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 155.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 873,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $224,093,000 after acquiring an additional 531,880 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $103,899,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $80,423,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Wingstop in the fourth quarter valued at $78,616,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wingstop by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,473,000 after acquiring an additional 104,780 shares in the last quarter.

Wingstop Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $391.13 on Thursday. Wingstop Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.30 and a 12-month high of $431.03. The stock has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of 139.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $380.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $378.73.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. Wingstop had a net margin of 17.33% and a negative return on equity of 21.18%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.04 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Wingstop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.71, for a total value of $1,192,299.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,152.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WING has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $407.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wingstop currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $378.65.

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.