Chipotle Mexican Grill’s (CMG) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $70.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $67.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $48.00 to $57.30 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $73.36 to $77.76 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $65.70 to $66.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $64.29.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Performance

CMG stock opened at $62.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $127.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.99. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 52-week low of $35.37 and a 52-week high of $69.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.84, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.25.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Albert S. Baldocchi sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.32, for a total value of $3,166,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,362,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,273,772.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Scott Boatwright sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $3,509,176.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 120,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,694,665.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Albert S. Baldocchi sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.32, for a total transaction of $3,166,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,362,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,273,772.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 550,750 shares of company stock valued at $35,023,769 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMG. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 1st quarter worth $1,163,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 13,490 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $39,212,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 8,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,864,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 1st quarter worth $1,427,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 166.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,067,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. It sells food and beverages through offering burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads. The company also provides delivery and related services its app and website. It has operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.