Granahan Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

Granahan Investment Management LLC boosted its position in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) by 66.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 114,599 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,776 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse were worth $6,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CHEF. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.9% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $94.86 on Friday. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.20 and a 1 year high of $102.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $89.30 and its 200 day moving average is $74.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.70 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $9,750,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,189,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,777,334. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the 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 sale, the insider directly owned 24,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,951,892.82. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.