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

Shares of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.20.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Sweetgreen from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Sweetgreen from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Monday, August 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sweetgreen news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 169,772 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $6,072,744.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,930,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,044,255.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 3,868 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total value of $140,447.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 114,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,169,913.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 169,772 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total value of $6,072,744.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,930,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,044,255.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 428,334 shares of company stock valued at $15,162,663. 21.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 12,326,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,516,000 after buying an additional 721,740 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,420,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,713,000 after buying an additional 70,395 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 231.8% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,688,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,028,000 after buying an additional 1,878,216 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,763,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,151,000 after purchasing an additional 39,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,521,000 after purchasing an additional 490,806 shares in the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SG opened at $36.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.55. Sweetgreen has a 1-year low of $8.64 and a 1-year high of $40.20. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.01 and a beta of 2.33.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.02). Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 19.34% and a negative net margin of 14.33%. The company had revenue of $184.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.79 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. Sweetgreen’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sweetgreen will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.