Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on CHEF. Benchmark boosted their target price on Chefs’ Warehouse from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.83.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

CHEF stock opened at $96.10 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $81.28 and a 200-day moving average of $69.87. The company has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.39 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Chefs’ Warehouse has a 12-month low of $53.20 and a 12-month high of $97.63.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.17. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 1.87%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.21, for a total value of $356,445.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 24,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,951,892.82. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total value of $9,750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,189,453 shares in the company, valued at $170,777,334. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the 1st quarter worth about $275,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 98.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the first quarter valued at approximately $546,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 27.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after buying an additional 9,490 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Chefs’ Warehouse by 23.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 332,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,759,000 after acquiring an additional 64,090 shares during the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chefs’ Warehouse Company Profile

Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc is a specialty food distributor that supplies a broad range of high?end ingredients and culinary products to professional chefs, restaurants, hotels, and other foodservice operators. Headquartered in Maspeth, New York, the company sources its portfolio from local artisans, boutique producers and leading global suppliers. Its core offerings include fresh and frozen proteins, specialty cuts of meat and seafood, handcrafted cheeses and charcuterie, seasonal produce, value?added preparations, pantry staples and premium desserts and beverages.

The company operates a network of distribution centers strategically located in major metropolitan markets across North America.