Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Shares Up 6.3% – What’s Next?

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG)’s share price was up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $33.52 and last traded at $33.78. Approximately 980,985 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 2,584,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Sweetgreen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp began coverage on Sweetgreen in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Sweetgreen from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sweetgreen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.20.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.19 and a beta of 2.38.

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

Insider Transactions at Sweetgreen

In other news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 20,937 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $838,108.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,930,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,267,026.84. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mitch Reback sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.13, for a total transaction of $265,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 350,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,628,000.53. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 646,565 shares of company stock worth $24,974,830. 21.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sweetgreen

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SG. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new position in Sweetgreen in the third quarter worth approximately $591,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen during the third quarter worth $1,973,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 189.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 173,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,151,000 after purchasing an additional 113,586 shares during the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sweetgreen in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,329,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 939,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,299,000 after purchasing an additional 547,816 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.