Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 72,686 Shares of Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 966,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,686 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.45% of Texas Roadhouse worth $174,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TXRH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Texas Roadhouse by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,540,615 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,180,123,000 after buying an additional 76,051 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,982,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $350,171,000 after acquiring an additional 38,723 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,201,641 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $212,261,000 after purchasing an additional 18,126 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 14.4% in the third 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. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Texas Roadhouse by 81.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 898,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $158,679,000 after purchasing an additional 403,720 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.82% of the company’s stock.

Texas Roadhouse Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Texas Roadhouse stock opened at $168.92 on Wednesday. Texas Roadhouse, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.75 and a 12-month high of $206.04. The company has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.85.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.07. Texas Roadhouse had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 34.02%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Analysts predict that Texas Roadhouse, Inc. will post 7.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Texas Roadhouse Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This is a boost from Texas Roadhouse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Texas Roadhouse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on TXRH. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Texas Roadhouse from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $213.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Texas Roadhouse from $185.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Texas Roadhouse from $185.00 to $172.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Texas Roadhouse in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $213.00 price target for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Texas Roadhouse from $205.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Texas Roadhouse has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.36.

Insider Activity at Texas Roadhouse

In related news, insider Christopher C. Colson sold 580 shares of Texas Roadhouse stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.94, for a total transaction of $105,525.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,183,280. This trade represents a 4.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Regina A. Tobin sold 3,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total transaction of $585,508.56. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 18,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,374.96. This trade represents a 14.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,905 shares of company stock worth $3,198,367 over the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.