First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

FWRG has been the subject of several other research reports. Stephens raised their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Watch Restaurant Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.09.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

FWRG stock opened at $18.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 301.55, a PEG ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.04. First Watch Restaurant Group has a fifty-two week low of $12.90 and a fifty-two week high of $22.71.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.04). First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 0.69% and a net margin of 0.37%.The company had revenue of $307.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. First Watch Restaurant Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at First Watch Restaurant Group

In other news, major shareholder International L.P. Advent sold 4,400,000 shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total transaction of $77,748,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,289,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,470,483.28. The trade was a 45.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRG. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 1,617.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 5,128 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 19.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 2,083 shares during the last quarter. Avory & Company LLC bought a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,687,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in First Watch Restaurant Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 203.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 238,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 160,040 shares in the last quarter. 96.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.