Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) Shares Down 1.6%

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)’s share price fell 1.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $57.53 and last traded at $57.56. 1,823,227 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 14,727,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CMG. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $74.60 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Chipotle Mexican Grill from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.36.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.82. The company has a market capitalization of $79.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.25.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 13.23%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $12.65 earnings per share. Chipotle Mexican Grill’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In other news, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 17,394 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.68, for a total value of $951,103.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 358,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,591,844. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $56.38, for a total value of $100,920.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,340,333.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 17,394 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.68, for a total value of $951,103.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 358,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,591,844. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,934 shares of company stock valued at $1,918,589 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chipotle Mexican Grill

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $1,264,109,000 after buying an additional 19,759,754 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,209.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,935,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $685,128,000 after buying an additional 10,729,706 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,930.8% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,816.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,356,173 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $523,514,000 after buying an additional 8,186,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 76,617.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,904,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $369,945,000 after buying an additional 5,897,255 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Company Profile

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.