Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CHEF. Wall Street Zen downgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Chefs’ Warehouse in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.00.

Chefs’ Warehouse Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ CHEF opened at $64.14 on Thursday. Chefs’ Warehouse has a 1-year low of $45.00 and a 1-year high of $68.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.93. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 37.73 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.07. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Chefs’ Warehouse’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James Leddy sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $1,366,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 125,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,819,152.12. This represents a 14.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 30.7% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.9% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 0.7% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 30,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 6.4% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Chefs’ Warehouse Company Profile

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.