Copeland Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 230,510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Wingstop comprises about 1.7% of Copeland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Copeland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $95,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WING. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Wingstop by 284.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $161,957,000 after buying an additional 283,412 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 36.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 602,990 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $254,860,000 after acquiring an additional 161,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Wingstop by 66.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,920 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $137,753,000 after acquiring an additional 130,248 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Wingstop by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,924,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,473,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Wingstop by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,273,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $833,026,000 after purchasing an additional 101,917 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $417.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $475.00 price target on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Wingstop from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on Wingstop from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Wingstop from $407.00 to $458.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wingstop has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $382.00.

Wingstop Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of WING stock opened at $368.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.12, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $396.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $388.63. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $173.74 and a 52 week high of $433.86.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.04 million. Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wingstop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from Wingstop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Wingstop’s payout ratio is currently 38.43%.

Insider Activity at Wingstop

In other Wingstop news, SVP Donnie Upshaw sold 3,199 shares of Wingstop stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.