Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Earns Buy Rating from TD Cowen

TD Cowen reissued their buy rating on shares of Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a $43.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America raised their target price on Sweetgreen from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Sweetgreen in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a buy rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $38.20.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

NYSE SG opened at $35.45 on Friday. Sweetgreen has a fifty-two week low of $8.64 and a fifty-two week high of $38.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.12 and a beta of 2.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.61.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 14.33% and a negative return on equity of 19.34%. The firm had revenue of $184.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sweetgreen will post -0.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sweetgreen news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 3,868 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $140,447.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 114,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,169,913.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Sweetgreen news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 3,868 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $140,447.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 114,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,169,913.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicolas Jammet sold 21,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,930,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,751,178.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 426,061 shares of company stock worth $15,071,720 over the last three months. Company insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 12,326,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,516,000 after acquiring an additional 721,740 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,420,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,713,000 after purchasing an additional 70,395 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 231.8% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,688,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,216 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,763,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,151,000 after buying an additional 39,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 490,806 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.