Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. Trims Position in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. $CMG

Key Points

• Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 12.6%, now holding approximately 1.60% of the company's shares.
• In the first quarter, other institutional investors like Vanguard Group and Price T Rowe Associates increased their holdings, reflecting strong interest in Chipotle's stock.
• Chipotle reported a 3.0% year-over-year revenue increase, with earnings per share of $0.33, slightly beating analysts' expectations for the quarter.

Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. trimmed its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG - Free Report) by 12.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,541,177 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,112,356 shares during the quarter. Chipotle Mexican Grill accounts for approximately 9.1% of Pershing Square Capital Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. owned about 1.60% of Chipotle Mexican Grill worth $1,081,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 122,463,327 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,148,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,287 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 7.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,827,332 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,853,302,000 after acquiring an additional 4,027,016 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 8.0% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 32,505,318 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,632,092,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,798 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 2.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 20,662,628 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,037,471,000 after acquiring an additional 425,648 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the first quarter worth about $535,023,000. 91.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CMG shares. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a report on Friday. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.93.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,999,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,712,282. The company has a market capitalization of $55.03 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.35 and a 200 day moving average of $49.54. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.73 and a 1-year high of $66.74.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.32% and a return on equity of 43.50%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.