Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Chipotle Mexican Grill Call Options (NYSE:CMG)

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 120,181 call options on the company. This is an increase of 80% compared to the typical volume of 66,691 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chipotle Mexican Grill news, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 17,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.68, for a total transaction of $951,103.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 358,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,591,844. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,732.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 19,759,754 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,209.5% in the second 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 last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,930.8% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,310,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $645,930,000 after acquiring an additional 10,139,174 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,816.1% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 8,186,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 76,617.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,904,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $369,945,000 after acquiring an additional 5,897,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance

NYSE:CMG opened at $52.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $72.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $122.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.27. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 1 year low of $35.37 and a 1 year high of $69.26.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $61.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $54.50 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $65.70 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.36.

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.