Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Stock Price

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 43.51% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $43.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Sweetgreen from $41.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Sweetgreen from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Sweetgreen in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.18.

Sweetgreen Stock Down 15.6 %

SG opened at $15.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.65 and a beta of 2.31. Sweetgreen has a 52 week low of $14.61 and a 52 week high of $45.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $21.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.45.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.21). The company had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.68 million. Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 18.82% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Sweetgreen will post -0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In related news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 10,926 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.43, for a total transaction of $288,774.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 344,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,093,373.65. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 5,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total transaction of $136,064.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,810,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,084,259.40. This represents a 0.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,852 shares of company stock worth $871,417 in the last quarter. 21.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cox Capital Mgt LLC boosted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC now owns 53,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after acquiring an additional 23,278 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the fourth quarter worth $1,182,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Sweetgreen by 223.2% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 27,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,000 after purchasing an additional 18,733 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sweetgreen by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 5,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 1,399.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 111,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,365,000 after buying an additional 103,664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

Sweetgreen Company Profile

Sweetgreen, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.