Stephens Initiates Coverage on Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG)

Equities researchers at Stephens began coverage on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $3,010.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target points to a potential upside of 1.77% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,900.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,700.00 to $3,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,100.00 to $2,400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,225.00 to $2,525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,750.00 to $3,250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,720.59.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of CMG opened at $2,957.60 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2,749.70 and its 200-day moving average is $2,351.91. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 12 month low of $1,706.14 and a 12 month high of $3,023.98. The firm has a market cap of $81.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.28.

Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are scheduled to split on Wednesday, June 26th. The 50-1 split was announced on Tuesday, March 19th. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, June 25th.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The restaurant operator reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.73 by $0.63. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 44.41%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.29 EPS. Chipotle Mexican Grill’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 53.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In related news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 1,996 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,399.91, for a total transaction of $4,790,220.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,870,779.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 1,996 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,399.91, for a total transaction of $4,790,220.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,870,779.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Roger E. Theodoredis sold 898 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,622.25, for a total transaction of $2,354,780.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,420.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,793 shares of company stock valued at $18,321,152 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chipotle Mexican Grill

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,707,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,191,334,000 after acquiring an additional 23,151 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,125,974 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,575,057,000 after acquiring an additional 8,541 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,042,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,781,678,000 after acquiring an additional 5,358 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 565,479 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $963,779,000 after acquiring an additional 9,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 509,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $934,147,000 after acquiring an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. It sells food and beverages through offering burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads. The company also provides delivery and related services its app and website. It has operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.