Chefs' Warehouse's (CHEF) Buy Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

Key Points

• BTIG Research reiterated a "Buy" rating on Chefs' Warehouse with a $74 price target, implying roughly an 11.8% upside; analysts' consensus on MarketBeat is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $77.67.
• Chefs' Warehouse posted an earnings beat for the quarter with EPS of $0.68 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.14 billion, up 10.5% year-over-year.
• Insiders sold 139,309 shares (about $9.06 million) in the last quarter, though insiders still own ~11.1% of shares and institutional ownership is high at ~91.6%.

Chefs' Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $74.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research's price target suggests a potential upside of 11.83% from the company's previous close.

CHEF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research set a $84.00 price target on shares of Chefs' Warehouse in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Chefs' Warehouse from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Chefs' Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Chefs' Warehouse from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Chefs' Warehouse from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.67.

Chefs' Warehouse Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of CHEF stock opened at $66.17 on Wednesday. Chefs' Warehouse has a 52-week low of $51.53 and a 52-week high of $73.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 40.10 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.00.

Chefs' Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.06. Chefs' Warehouse had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 1.74%.The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Chefs' Warehouse's revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Chefs' Warehouse will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chefs' Warehouse

In related news, CAO Tim Mccauley sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $525,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 44,662 shares in the company, valued at $3,126,340. The trade was a 14.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 29,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total transaction of $2,100,990.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 72,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,129,050.74. This represents a 29.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 139,309 shares of company stock valued at $9,060,197 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Chefs' Warehouse

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Chefs' Warehouse during the 4th quarter worth approximately $517,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chefs' Warehouse in the 4th quarter valued at $251,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Chefs' Warehouse by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,930,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $182,656,000 after purchasing an additional 318,942 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chefs' Warehouse by 1,027.8% in the 4th quarter. Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC now owns 51,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,185,000 after purchasing an additional 46,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Odyssean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chefs' Warehouse in the 4th quarter valued at $746,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.