Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CHEF. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.86.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CHEF opened at $97.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Chefs’ Warehouse has a fifty-two week low of $53.20 and a fifty-two week high of $102.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 1.39.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 1.87%.Chefs’ Warehouse’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Chefs’ Warehouse

In other news, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 24,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,951,892.82. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $170,777,334. This trade 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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chefs’ Warehouse

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

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.