Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.67.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Sweetgreen in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Sweetgreen from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Sweetgreen from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Sweetgreen from $17.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Sweetgreen from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

NYSE SG opened at $29.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of -31.30 and a beta of 2.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.32. Sweetgreen has a 1-year low of $8.64 and a 1-year high of $36.72.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.02). Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 17.15% and a negative return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $157.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.29) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sweetgreen will post -0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bradley E. Singer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.30, for a total transaction of $1,938,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 182,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,896,914.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Sweetgreen news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 150,000 shares of Sweetgreen stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total transaction of $4,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,050,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bradley E. Singer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.30, for a total value of $1,938,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 182,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,896,914.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 440,692 shares of company stock valued at $13,738,038 in the last three months. 21.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boulder Hill Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sweetgreen by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,126,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,481,000 after purchasing an additional 245,255 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Sweetgreen by 100.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 298,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after purchasing an additional 149,871 shares in the last quarter. Conrad N. Hilton Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen during the fourth quarter valued at about $434,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Sweetgreen by 0.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,810,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,019,000 after acquiring an additional 84,375 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

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.