BTIG Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF)

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $74.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.50% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CHEF. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on Chefs’ Warehouse from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $84.00 price target on Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.67.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $62.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.17 and a beta of 1.34. Chefs’ Warehouse has a 52 week low of $51.53 and a 52 week high of $73.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.02.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.74% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chefs’ Warehouse news, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 29,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total transaction of $2,100,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 72,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,129,050.74. This represents a 29.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Tim Mccauley sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $525,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 44,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,126,340. This represents a 14.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 139,309 shares of company stock valued at $9,060,197 in the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chefs’ Warehouse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Chefs’ Warehouse by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. 91.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.