Insider Selling: Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) CEO Sells $5,997,127.24 in Stock

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) CEO Christopher Pappas sold 95,908 shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.53, for a total transaction of $5,997,127.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,398,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,979,580.66. This represents a 3.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

Shares of CHEF opened at $63.22 on Friday. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.00 and a fifty-two week high of $73.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 1.74%.The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $84.00 price objective on Chefs’ Warehouse in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chefs’ Warehouse presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.67.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,930,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,656,000 after buying an additional 318,942 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,010,000 after acquiring an additional 58,154 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,129,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,864,000 after purchasing an additional 55,850 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,428,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,019,000 after purchasing an additional 44,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Chefs’ Warehouse by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,383,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,813 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

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.