Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Price Target Lowered to $80.00 at UBS Group

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) had its price target trimmed by UBS Group from $83.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on CHEF. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wolfe Research set a $84.00 price target on Chefs’ Warehouse in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.17.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $64.95 on Thursday. Chefs’ Warehouse has a fifty-two week low of $51.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.94. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 39.36 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.74% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 29,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total value of $2,100,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 72,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,129,050.74. This represents a 29.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 95,908 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.53, for a total transaction of $5,997,127.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,398,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,979,580.66. This represents a 3.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 139,309 shares of company stock worth $9,060,197 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CHEF. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 229.5% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 515.3% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 523 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

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.