Analysts Set The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) Price Target at $115.67

Shares of The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings 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 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $115.6667.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Down 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CHEF opened at $106.46 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.86. 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 has a 1 year low of $53.20 and a 1 year high of $117.65. The firm has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 50.70 and a beta of 1.38.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 16.95% and a net margin of 2.09%.Chefs’ Warehouse’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chefs’ Warehouse news, insider Christina Polychroni sold 2,752 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,465,568. This represents a 11.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,883,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 137,752 shares of company stock worth $15,203,174. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the second quarter valued at $37,619,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the second quarter worth about $28,010,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 117,849.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 231,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,744,000 after acquiring an additional 230,985 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse in the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,116,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse during the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,705,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

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.