The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF Shares Sold by WCM Investment Management LLC

WCM Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 335,478 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,398 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC owned about 0.82% of Chefs’ Warehouse worth $19,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 977,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,110,000 after purchasing an additional 15,311 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 98.7% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 117,849.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 231,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,744,000 after purchasing an additional 230,985 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,366,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 20,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,206,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Chefs’ Warehouse

In related news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total value of $9,750,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,189,453 shares in the company, valued at $170,777,334. The trade was a 5.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,951,892.82. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research lowered Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chefs’ Warehouse currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.86.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $97.08 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 1.39. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.20 and a 12 month high of $102.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued 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 net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Chefs’ Warehouse’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.