Great Lakes Advisors LLC Invests $1.71 Million in The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. $CHEF

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired 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 & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 17,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 worth $182,656,000 after acquiring an additional 318,942 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,010,000 after purchasing an additional 58,154 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,129,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,864,000 after purchasing an additional 55,850 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Chefs’ Warehouse by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,428,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,019,000 after purchasing an additional 44,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased 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 worth $86,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,813 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Chefs’ Warehouse

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CHEF shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Chefs’ Warehouse from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.43.

Chefs’ Warehouse Trading Up 1.6%

CHEF opened at $110.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.15. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. has a one year low of $53.20 and a one year high of $117.33. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.67 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.44.

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

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.