Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $70.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price target of $65.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.60.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Trading Up 0.7 %

CMG stock opened at $54.34 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.23 and its 200 day moving average is $58.13. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 1-year low of $47.98 and a 1-year high of $69.26. The stock has a market cap of $73.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 42.92% and a net margin of 13.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In other news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 4,404 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $286,304.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 185,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,078,337.92. This represents a 2.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chipotle Mexican Grill

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the fourth quarter worth $1,093,345,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the fourth quarter valued at $692,701,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,138,574.1% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 8,318,735 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $501,620,000 after acquiring an additional 8,318,534 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 30,100,520 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,815,061,000 after acquiring an additional 6,853,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the fourth quarter valued at $315,220,000. 91.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.