The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.7143.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Chefs’ Warehouse from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Chefs’ Warehouse from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chefs’ Warehouse

In related news, CFO James Leddy sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $1,366,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 125,892 shares in the company, valued at $7,819,152.12. This trade represents a 14.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $175,010,000 after buying an additional 58,154 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 55,850 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,383,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,721,000 after purchasing an additional 30,684 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,149,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 70,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,104,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,864,000 after purchasing an additional 173,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Chefs’ Warehouse Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ CHEF opened at $62.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Chefs’ Warehouse has a one year low of $45.00 and a one year high of $68.94.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.36 million. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 1.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Research analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

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.