Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Price Target Raised to $131.00

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) had its price target raised by investment analysts at TD Cowen from $123.00 to $131.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.34% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CHEF. Benchmark upped their price target on Chefs’ Warehouse from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Chefs’ Warehouse from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chefs’ Warehouse presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.67.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CHEF opened at $109.77 on Friday. 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 52 week low of $53.20 and a 52 week high of $117.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $105.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.27 and a beta of 1.38.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Chefs’ Warehouse

In other news, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.97, for a total transaction of $3,883,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 34,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,822,028.74. This trade represents a 50.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 2,752 shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total value of $308,224.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 22,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,465,568. This represents a 11.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 137,752 shares of company stock valued at $15,203,174 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chefs’ Warehouse

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the second quarter valued at $993,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 9,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse in the 2nd quarter valued at about $120,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,220,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 9,262.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,157,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,552,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113,264 shares in the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.