Morgan Stanley Upgrades Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) to “Overweight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $213.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $205.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Texas Roadhouse from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America upped their target price on Texas Roadhouse from $206.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Texas Roadhouse from $192.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Texas Roadhouse from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Texas Roadhouse in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $213.00 target price on the stock. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $191.26.

Texas Roadhouse Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:TXRH opened at $182.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. Texas Roadhouse has a 1-year low of $119.52 and a 1-year high of $206.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $188.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.00.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Texas Roadhouse had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 31.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Texas Roadhouse will post 6.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Texas Roadhouse Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. Texas Roadhouse’s payout ratio is currently 41.92%.

Insider Activity at Texas Roadhouse

In related news, CTO Hernan E. Mujica sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.26, for a total transaction of $303,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,342 shares in the company, valued at $3,305,332.92. This represents a 8.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christopher C. Colson sold 1,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.46, for a total transaction of $245,860.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,794,600. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,480 shares of company stock worth $668,603 in the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Texas Roadhouse

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,982,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $350,171,000 after buying an additional 38,723 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,201,641 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $212,261,000 after buying an additional 18,126 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,180,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $208,539,000 after purchasing an additional 148,462 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 922,405 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $162,897,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 909,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $156,230,000 after purchasing an additional 165,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.82% of the company’s stock.

Texas Roadhouse Company Profile

Texas Roadhouse, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It also operates and franchises restaurants under the Texas Roadhouse, Bubba's 33, and Jaggers names in 49 states and ten internationally. Texas Roadhouse, Inc was founded in 1993 and is based in Louisville, Kentucky.