Walleye Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 7,644 The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 7,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $454,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse during the first quarter worth approximately $232,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse in the first quarter worth $194,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 70.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 120,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after acquiring an additional 49,780 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 977,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,110,000 after acquiring an additional 15,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 98.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chefs’ Warehouse Price Performance

CHEF opened at $94.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.00. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.20 and a fifty-two week high of $102.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.70 and a beta of 1.39.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during 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%.Chefs’ Warehouse’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.21, for a total transaction of $356,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 24,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,951,892.82. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,189,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,777,334. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CHEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. 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 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on Chefs’ Warehouse from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.86.

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.