Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 288,266 Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,488,635 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 288,266 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.62% of Chipotle Mexican Grill worth $511,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 364.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 228,622 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,786,000 after buying an additional 179,365 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,127,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 11,601 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 108,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 25,505 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,544,000 after purchasing an additional 8,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Chipotle Mexican Grill

In related news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 4,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $286,304.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 185,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,078,337.92. This trade represents a 2.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CMG. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.60.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Performance

Shares of CMG opened at $53.10 on Wednesday. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.98 and a 52 week high of $69.26. The firm has a market cap of $71.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.14.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.56% and a return on equity of 42.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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.