NFJ Investment Group LLC Takes Position in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 28,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,745,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned 0.07% of Chefs’ Warehouse at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,930,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,656,000 after purchasing an additional 318,942 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,010,000 after buying an additional 58,154 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,129,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,864,000 after buying an additional 55,850 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,428,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,019,000 after buying an additional 44,323 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,383,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,263,000 after buying an additional 5,813 shares during the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

Shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock opened at $108.84 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.52 and a 200 day moving average of $80.23. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.20 and a 52 week high of $117.33. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 51.83 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 16.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CHEF. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on Chefs’ Warehouse from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chefs’ Warehouse news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.11, for a total value of $11,011,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,105,480 shares in the company, valued at $231,834,402.80. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 2,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $308,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 22,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,465,568. This trade represents a 11.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 137,752 shares of company stock valued at $15,203,174 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.10% 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.