Chuy’s Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Chuy’s Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,020,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the June 15th total of 933,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 151,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chuy’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CHUY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 1.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,422 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Chuy’s by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,693 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Chuy’s by 70.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chuy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Chuy’s by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 94,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CHUY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Chuy’s in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Chuy’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Chuy’s from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Chuy’s in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Chuy’s in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chuy’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.14.

Chuy’s Price Performance

Chuy’s stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $25.27. The stock had a trading volume of 268,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 145,681. Chuy’s has a 1-year low of $22.52 and a 1-year high of $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $435.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.68.

Chuy’s (NASDAQ:CHUY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The restaurant operator reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $110.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.67 million. Chuy’s had a net margin of 6.58% and a return on equity of 13.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chuy’s will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Chuy’s Company Profile

Chuy's Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants under the Chuy's name in the United States. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.