NFJ Investment Group LLC Makes New Investment in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 42,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,630,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned about 0.10% of Chefs’ Warehouse at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,010,000 after acquiring an additional 58,154 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,129,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,864,000 after acquiring an additional 55,850 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,428,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,019,000 after acquiring an additional 44,323 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,383,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,149,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,334,000 after acquiring an additional 70,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CHEF. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Chefs’ Warehouse from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research raised Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.83.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

NASDAQ CHEF opened at $90.75 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.42 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.00. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.20 and a fifty-two week high of $92.10.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Chefs’ Warehouse had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Chefs’ Warehouse

In other news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,189,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,777,334. The trade was a 5.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.