21,048 Shares in The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF Purchased by Expect Equity LLC

Key Points

• Expect Equity LLC acquired 21,048 shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the second quarter, worth approximately $2.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 91.55% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: Chefs’ Warehouse has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $107.43, though insiders recently sold $15.2 million of stock, including significant sales by the CEO and general counsel.
• The company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.78 versus a $0.59 estimate and revenue of $1.17 billion, up 12.9% year over year.

Expect Equity LLC bought a new position in The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 21,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,023,000. Expect Equity LLC owned 0.05% of Chefs' Warehouse as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Chefs' Warehouse by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 172,040 shares of the company's stock worth $10,228,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Chefs' Warehouse by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company's stock worth $175,010,000 after purchasing an additional 58,154 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Chefs' Warehouse in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,619,000. Argent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Chefs' Warehouse in the 1st quarter valued at $546,000. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC grew its position in shares of Chefs' Warehouse by 14.7% during 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. 91.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CHEF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Chefs' Warehouse from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Chefs' Warehouse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Chefs' Warehouse from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark upped their target price on Chefs' Warehouse from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Chefs' Warehouse from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chefs' Warehouse currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.43.

Insider Activity at Chefs' Warehouse

In other Chefs' Warehouse news, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.97, for a total transaction of $3,883,950.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 34,442 shares in the company, valued at $3,822,028.74. This trade represents a 50.40% 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, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 100,000 shares of Chefs' Warehouse stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.11, for a total value of $11,011,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,105,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $231,834,402.80. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 137,752 shares of company stock valued at $15,203,174 over the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Chefs' Warehouse Price Performance

CHEF stock opened at $111.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.25. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 53.23 and a beta of 1.39. The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. has a one year low of $53.20 and a one year high of $117.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Chefs' Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. Chefs' Warehouse had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 16.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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.

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