(MARKETWATCH) — Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s stock took another dive Tuesday, after the latest E. coli outbreak tied to the fast casual Mexican restaurant chain prompted J.P. Morgan analyst to throw in the towel and downgrade the company.
The stock CMG, -0.08% dropped as much as 4.7% in active midday trade, to trade below the $500 level for the first time since May 2014, before paring losses slightly. The stock slid 3.5% on Monday, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked another E. coli outbreak to Chipotle. It has now lost 22% since the end of October, when the first outbreak was reported.
J.P. Morgan analyst John Ivankoe cut his rating on the stock to neutral, after being at overweight since April 2014. He slashed his stock price target to $555 from $630. The new stock price target is below the average target--$581.54--of the 22 analysts surveyed by FactSet.
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