Short Interest in Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) Declines By 18.4%

Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,700,000 shares, a drop of 18.4% from the February 28th total of 3,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Texas Roadhouse

In other Texas Roadhouse news, Director Curtis Warfield sold 4,190 shares of Texas Roadhouse stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.80, for a total value of $749,172.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,802,661.60. The trade was a 29.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher C. Colson sold 1,370 shares of Texas Roadhouse stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.46, for a total value of $245,860.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,794,600. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,905 shares of company stock valued at $3,198,367 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Texas Roadhouse by 81.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 898,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $158,679,000 after purchasing an additional 403,720 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 5,129 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in Texas Roadhouse by 120.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,403 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 12.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,039,000 after buying an additional 5,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 22.4% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 2,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. 94.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TXRH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Texas Roadhouse in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $213.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on Texas Roadhouse from $194.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Texas Roadhouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $192.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $205.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.36.

Texas Roadhouse Price Performance

Texas Roadhouse stock opened at $172.22 on Thursday. Texas Roadhouse has a 1-year low of $146.75 and a 1-year high of $206.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $175.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.78.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.07. Texas Roadhouse had a return on equity of 34.02% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Texas Roadhouse will post 7.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Texas Roadhouse Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. This is a positive change from Texas Roadhouse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Texas Roadhouse’s payout ratio is 42.04%.

About Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It also operates and franchises restaurants under the Texas Roadhouse, Bubba's 33, and Jaggers names in 49 states and ten internationally. Texas Roadhouse, Inc was founded in 1993 and is based in Louisville, Kentucky.