Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,423 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Texas Roadhouse were worth $3,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TXRH. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Texas Roadhouse by 128.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 765,096 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $131,375,000 after buying an additional 430,814 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 81.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 898,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $158,679,000 after buying an additional 403,720 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 76.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 893,925 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,375,000 after purchasing an additional 385,998 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Texas Roadhouse in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,609,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Texas Roadhouse during the third quarter worth about $41,670,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on TXRH. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Texas Roadhouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $192.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Texas Roadhouse in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $213.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $190.26.

Texas Roadhouse Stock Performance

NASDAQ TXRH opened at $178.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $190.48 and a 200-day moving average of $178.50. The stock has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.01. Texas Roadhouse, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.48 and a 52-week high of $206.04.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.06). Texas Roadhouse had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 31.33%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Texas Roadhouse’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Texas Roadhouse, Inc. will post 6.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Texas Roadhouse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Texas Roadhouse’s payout ratio is presently 41.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Texas Roadhouse

In related news, CTO Hernan E. Mujica sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.26, for a total value of $303,390.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,342 shares in the company, valued at $3,305,332.92. This represents a 8.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Donna E. Epps sold 610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.66, for a total transaction of $119,352.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,071.12. The trade was a 14.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,480 shares of company stock worth $668,603. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Texas Roadhouse Company Profile

Texas Roadhouse, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It also operates and franchises restaurants under the Texas Roadhouse, Bubba's 33, and Jaggers names in 49 states and ten internationally. Texas Roadhouse, Inc was founded in 1993 and is based in Louisville, Kentucky.