Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. $CMG Stock: KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Raises Position

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) by 246.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 141,389 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 100,569 shares during the quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC’s holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $4,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMG. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the third quarter worth $321,000. Krilogy Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 280.5% during the third quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 33,350 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,066,000 after buying an additional 24,585 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN grew its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 38.1% during the third quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 33,455 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 9,226 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 597.2% in the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 150,957 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,823,000 after buying an additional 129,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 17,687 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,553 shares in the last quarter. 91.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Chipotle Mexican Grill News

Here are the key news stories impacting Chipotle Mexican Grill this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue rose 9.6% to $3.29 billion, in line with expectations, while comparable-restaurant sales increased 2.1% and transactions grew for the third consecutive quarter. Value offers and limited-time menu items helped attract diners. Chipotle beats quarterly sales expectations on resilient demand
• Positive Sentiment: Investors responded favorably to signs of a traffic recovery following earlier food-safety concerns. New menu launches, refreshed loyalty benefits and plans to accelerate technology and menu innovation are supporting the turnaround. Chipotle Sales Beat as New Chicken, Chips Bring Diners Back
• Positive Sentiment: Chipotle opened 84 company-owned restaurants during the quarter, and its loyalty program surpassed 24 million members, providing additional long-term growth and customer-engagement potential. Chipotle: 3 Key Takeaways for Long-Term Investors
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings, including DA Davidson and BTIG Research at $45 targets and Oppenheimer at a $51 target, implying substantial upside based on the supplied reference price. Oppenheimer analyst rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinion remains mixed: Citigroup kept a Buy rating while cutting its target to $41, whereas BNP Paribas Exane retained Neutral and reduced its target to $36. Bernstein also lowered its target to $43 from $50. Citigroup price target
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $0.27 per share, below the $0.29 consensus and last year’s $0.29, as higher operating costs, beef prices and increased protein usage pressured margins. Chipotle Q3 earnings miss estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Management’s outlook calls for only modestly higher sales, leaving investors dependent on the fourth-quarter brisket launch, continued traffic gains and successful cost management to sustain the recovery. The rest of Chipotle’s year hinges on brisket

Insider Activity at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In other news, insider Matthew R. Bush sold 2,675 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $95,631.25. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $765,586.25. The trade was a 11.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock traded up $2.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $31.33. 42,432,740 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,084,094. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.31 and a 12-month high of $41.42. The stock has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.21.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 54.65% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group set a $40.00 price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $43.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Seaport Research Partners began coverage on Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Chipotle Mexican Grill has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.47.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Company Profile

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc (NYSE: CMG) operates a chain of fast-casual restaurants focused on Mexican-inspired food. Its menu includes burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, quesadillas and salads, with options such as chicken, steak, barbacoa, carnitas, sofritas and vegetables. The company emphasizes preparing food in its restaurants from ingredients it describes as responsibly sourced, including meats raised with attention to animal welfare and produce from selected suppliers.

Founded by Steve Ells in 1993, Chipotle opened its first restaurant in Denver, Colorado.