First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.30.

FWRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Transactions at First Watch Restaurant Group

In other First Watch Restaurant Group news, major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.76, for a total transaction of $158,080,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares in the company, valued at $379,190,131.84. This represents a 29.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FWRG. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $172,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in First Watch Restaurant Group by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 29,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 7,952 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,611,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,674,000 after purchasing an additional 255,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,333,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FWRG opened at $18.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 55.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.98. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1 year low of $12.90 and a 1 year high of $25.98.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $251.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.17 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

About First Watch Restaurant Group

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates and franchises restaurants under the First Watch trade name in the United States. The company was formerly known as AI Fresh Super Holdco, Inc and changed its name to First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc in December 2019. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc was founded in 1983 and is based in Bradenton, Florida.