Royal Bank of Canada Initiates Coverage on Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG)

Equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CMG. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $54.50 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.27.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE CMG opened at $59.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $57.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.24. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a twelve month low of $42.98 and a twelve month high of $69.26. The company has a market capitalization of $81.64 billion, a PE ratio of 55.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.26.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 43.20%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In other news, Director Robin S. Hickenlooper sold 1,790 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.38, for a total value of $100,920.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 41,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,333.80. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 15,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction of $866,565.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 473,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,052,740.28. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,290 shares of company stock valued at $1,866,023. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,732.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 20,177,309 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,264,109,000 after acquiring an additional 19,759,754 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,209.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,935,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $685,128,000 after acquiring an additional 10,729,706 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,930.8% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,310,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $645,930,000 after buying an additional 10,139,174 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,816.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,356,173 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $523,514,000 after buying an additional 8,186,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,271,318 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $476,593,000 after acquiring an additional 858,704 shares in the last quarter. 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.