Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 230,985 Shares of The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) by 117,849.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 231,181 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 230,985 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.57% of Chefs’ Warehouse worth $13,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CHEF. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse during the third quarter worth about $7,142,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 264,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,538,000 after purchasing an additional 34,011 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 207,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,907,000 after purchasing an additional 33,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,630,000. 91.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chefs’ Warehouse

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research boosted their target price 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 upped their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.86.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $97.08 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $87.88 and a 200-day moving average of $72.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 1.39. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.20 and a 1 year 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.17. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict 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.