Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) Upgraded to “Buy” at Gordon Haskett

Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $154.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SHAK. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Shake Shack in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays upgraded shares of Shake Shack from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Shake Shack in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Shake Shack from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Shake Shack from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.89.

Shake Shack Trading Down 3.2 %

SHAK opened at $128.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 756.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.86. Shake Shack has a 52 week low of $64.16 and a 52 week high of $139.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $130.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.05. Shake Shack had a net margin of 0.68% and a return on equity of 6.28%. The company had revenue of $316.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Shake Shack’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Shake Shack will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Shake Shack

In other Shake Shack news, Director Daniel Harris Meyer sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.79, for a total transaction of $3,653,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 407,646 shares in the company, valued at $49,647,206.34. This represents a 6.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Katherine Irene Fogertey sold 642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.51, for a total value of $88,281.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,223,894.67. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,333 shares of company stock valued at $6,566,330 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Shake Shack by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 76,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,049,000 after buying an additional 3,186 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Shake Shack by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shake Shack by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 189,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,530,000 after acquiring an additional 2,043 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Shake Shack in the third quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Shake Shack during the third quarter valued at approximately $142,000. 86.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Shake Shack

Shake Shack Inc owns, operates, and licenses Shake Shack restaurants (Shacks) in the United States and internationally. Its Shacks offers hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs, crinkle cut fries, shakes, frozen custard, beer, wine, and other products. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in New York, New York.