Chuy’s Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) Short Interest Down 5.4% in March

Chuy’s Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,410,000 shares, a decrease of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 1,490,000 shares. Approximately 8.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 138,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chuy’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 2.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,238,429 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $87,438,000 after purchasing an additional 73,665 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,706,310 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,589,000 after purchasing an additional 10,774 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,265,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,388,000 after purchasing an additional 25,512 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 29.9% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 946,167 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,914,000 after purchasing an additional 217,838 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Chuy’s by 4.3% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 936,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,646,000 after purchasing an additional 38,718 shares during the period. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chuy’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CHUY opened at $30.32 on Thursday. Chuy’s has a 1-year low of $30.18 and a 1-year high of $43.17. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $525.45 million, a PE ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 1.63.

Chuy’s (NASDAQ:CHUY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.07. Chuy’s had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 6.83%. The firm had revenue of $116.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.63 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Chuy’s will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CHUY shares. Stephens started coverage on Chuy’s in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Chuy’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush dropped their price target on Chuy’s from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Chuy’s from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.71.

About Chuy’s

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.