Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) Short Interest Up 43.3% in February

Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,310,000 shares, a growth of 43.3% from the February 13th total of 2,310,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Activity at Texas Roadhouse

In other Texas Roadhouse news, CTO Hernan E. Mujica sold 2,050 shares of Texas Roadhouse stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.66, for a total value of $349,853.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 17,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,928,866.92. This trade represents a 10.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Regina A. Tobin sold 3,154 shares of Texas Roadhouse stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total transaction of $585,508.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 18,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,418,374.96. The trade was a 14.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,905 shares of company stock valued at $3,198,367. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Texas Roadhouse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Texas Roadhouse by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,540,615 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,180,123,000 after purchasing an additional 76,051 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,479,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $447,344,000 after acquiring an additional 138,675 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,982,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $350,171,000 after acquiring an additional 38,723 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,300,987 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $234,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,465 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,207,645 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $217,959,000 after acquiring an additional 6,004 shares during the period. 94.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $209.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of 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, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $185.00 to $172.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.73.

Texas Roadhouse Trading Up 2.8 %

TXRH opened at $172.49 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. Texas Roadhouse has a twelve month low of $146.75 and a twelve month high of $206.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $177.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.27.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Texas Roadhouse had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 34.02%. As a group, analysts predict that Texas Roadhouse will post 7.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Texas Roadhouse Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. This is a positive change from Texas Roadhouse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Texas Roadhouse’s payout ratio is presently 42.04%.

About Texas Roadhouse

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.