Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Chuy’s (NASDAQ:CHUY) to Hold

Chuy’s (NASDAQ:CHUY) was downgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $24.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $38.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 0.25% from the stock’s previous close.

CHUY has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Chuy’s from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Chuy’s in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Chuy’s in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Chuy’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 11th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Chuy’s in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.14.

Chuy’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CHUY opened at $24.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $414.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 1.76. Chuy’s has a one year low of $22.52 and a one year high of $42.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.02.

Chuy’s (NASDAQ:CHUY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The restaurant operator reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $110.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.67 million. Chuy’s had a return on equity of 13.51% and a net margin of 6.58%. Chuy’s’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Chuy’s will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chuy’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CHUY. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chuy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Chuy’s by 607.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 2,107 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Chuy’s by 70.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chuy’s in the second quarter valued at about $133,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chuy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Chuy’s Company Profile

Chuy's Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants under the Chuy's name in the United States. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.