The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.6667.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CHEF. Zacks Research raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Chefs’ Warehouse from $123.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Benchmark increased their target price on Chefs’ Warehouse from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chefs’ Warehouse

In other news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,105,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,834,402.80. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 2,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $308,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,568. The trade was a 11.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 137,752 shares of company stock valued at $15,203,174. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 977,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,110,000 after buying an additional 15,311 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 548,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,210,000 after purchasing an additional 24,215 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 23.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 332,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,759,000 after acquiring an additional 64,090 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Chefs’ Warehouse during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,010,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 20.9% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 273,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,244,000 after acquiring an additional 47,243 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Up 0.4%

Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $110.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.46 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Chefs’ Warehouse has a twelve month low of $53.20 and a twelve month high of $117.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $107.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.40.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 16.95% and a net margin of 2.09%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc is a specialty food distributor serving professional chefs, restaurants, hotels, culinary institutions and other foodservice customers. The company provides a broad selection of specialty and center-of-the-plate products, including fresh produce, seafood, meat, poultry, dairy, imported foods, dry goods, frozen items and other culinary ingredients.

In addition to food products, Chefs’ Warehouse offers related supplies and services designed to support commercial kitchens and foodservice operations.