UPDATE: Wunderlich Securities Initiates Coverage on Chipotle Mexican Grill with Hold Rating, $430 PT on Valuation

In a report published Tuesday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Robert Derrington initiated coverage on Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG with a Hold rating and $430.00 price target. In the report, Wunderlich Securities noted, “We are initiating coverage of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) with a Hold rating and 12-18 month price target of $430, 5% above recent levels. While we believe management has distinguished its business model as one of the premier growth stories in the restaurant industry, we believe recent softness in industry sales trends along with the 64% appreciation CMG has enjoyed since last fall contribute to our belief that CMG appears fairly valued at recent levels. Given increased competitive trends within the restaurant industry juxtaposed to CMG's relatively lofty valuation - trading at 33.5x forward 12-month EPS compared to its 5-year average of 30.1x - we prefer to be more cautious with our initial rating.” Chipotle Mexican Grill closed on Monday at $401.80.