Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $97.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 1.81% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Chefs’ Warehouse from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Chefs’ Warehouse in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.86.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $98.79 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.19. Chefs’ Warehouse has a 12 month low of $53.20 and a 12 month high of $99.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.88 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.17. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Chefs’ Warehouse’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chefs’ Warehouse news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total value of $9,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,189,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,777,334. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.21, for a total value of $356,445.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 24,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,951,892.82. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Chefs’ Warehouse during the first quarter worth about $275,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 98.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $546,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,640,000 after acquiring an additional 9,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 332,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,759,000 after acquiring an additional 64,090 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

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.