Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Shares Down 8.4% After Analyst Downgrade

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG)’s stock price dropped 8.4% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $28.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Sweetgreen traded as low as $31.06 and last traded at $30.67. Approximately 493,586 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 2,061,860 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.50.

SG has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Sweetgreen in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.20.

Insider Transactions at Sweetgreen

In other Sweetgreen news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 5,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.05, for a total value of $182,916.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 107,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,654,007.65. The trade was a 4.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 1,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total transaction of $40,410.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,930,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,228,422.28. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 648,838 shares of company stock valued at $25,065,773 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Sweetgreen during the third quarter worth $591,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen in the third quarter valued at about $1,973,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in Sweetgreen by 189.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 173,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,151,000 after buying an additional 113,586 shares during the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Sweetgreen during the third quarter worth about $3,329,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Sweetgreen by 139.9% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 939,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,299,000 after buying an additional 547,816 shares during the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sweetgreen Stock Down 8.9 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.14 and a beta of 2.38.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $173.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.67 million. Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 18.82% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Sweetgreen, Inc. will post -0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.