Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Trading 8.4% Higher

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) shot up 8.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $21.62 and last traded at $21.58. 2,273,563 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average session volume of 2,228,745 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Sweetgreen from $17.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Sweetgreen from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sweetgreen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.16 and a beta of 2.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.28.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.01). Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 21.58% and a negative net margin of 19.41%. The business had revenue of $153.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.44) earnings per share. Sweetgreen’s revenue was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sweetgreen, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 29,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $619,269.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 405,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,521,319.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sweetgreen news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 4,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.32, for a total value of $52,803.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 139,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,721,017.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Mitch Reback sold 29,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $619,269.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 405,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,521,319.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,555 shares of company stock worth $2,214,389. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Sweetgreen in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,175,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Sweetgreen in the first quarter valued at about $223,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Sweetgreen by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Optas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the first quarter worth $388,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Sweetgreen during the 1st quarter worth about $15,042,000. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.