TD Cowen Reaffirms Buy Rating for Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG)

TD Cowen reiterated their buy rating on shares of Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $43.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Sweetgreen from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Sweetgreen in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a buy rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $38.20.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SG opened at $35.95 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.51. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.66 and a beta of 2.32. Sweetgreen has a 1 year low of $8.64 and a 1 year high of $38.53.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 169,772 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,930,228 shares in the company, valued at $69,044,255.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Sweetgreen news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 9,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total transaction of $335,201.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 379,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,881,816.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 169,772 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $6,072,744.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,930,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,044,255.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 426,061 shares of company stock worth $15,071,720. 21.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SG. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,969,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 62.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 55,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 21,203 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 133.6% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 94,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 53,928 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 231.8% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,688,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Sweetgreen by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 52,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 6,478 shares in the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.