Nicholas Investment Partners LP Buys Shares of 104,457 The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 104,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,038,000. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.26% of Chefs’ Warehouse as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 172,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,228,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,010,000 after purchasing an additional 58,154 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the second quarter worth approximately $37,619,000. Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the first quarter worth approximately $546,000. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 264,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,538,000 after purchasing an additional 34,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CHEF. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Chefs’ Warehouse presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.43.

Chefs’ Warehouse Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:CHEF opened at $113.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $101.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.91. 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 capitalization of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.02 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christina Polychroni sold 2,752 shares of Chefs’ Warehouse stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total value of $308,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 22,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,465,568. The trade was a 11.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Alexandros Aldous sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.97, for a total transaction of $3,883,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 34,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,822,028.74. This represents a 50.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 137,752 shares of company stock worth $15,203,174. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Chefs’ Warehouse 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.