Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $43.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Sweetgreen from $35.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Thursday, May 15th.

Insider Activity at Sweetgreen

In other Sweetgreen news, Director Nathaniel Ru sold 2,123 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total transaction of $50,527.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,785,099 shares in the company, valued at $42,485,356.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 5,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $43,084,259.40. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,014 shares of company stock worth $736,283. Company insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sweetgreen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SG. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 3.4% during the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 11,707,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,911,000 after buying an additional 386,141 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,103,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,933,000 after buying an additional 329,789 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,544,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,009,000 after buying an additional 351,240 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 30.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,762,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,180,000 after buying an additional 1,330,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,516,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,850,000 after buying an additional 1,601,666 shares in the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

Sweetgreen stock opened at $14.25 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.45. Sweetgreen has a 1 year low of $14.16 and a 1 year high of $45.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.27 and a beta of 2.31.

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

About Sweetgreen

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.