Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) dropped 2.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $34.00 and last traded at $34.81. Approximately 406,929 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 2,821,165 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SG has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.20.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.40. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.66 and a beta of 2.32.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 19.34% and a negative net margin of 14.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.20) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sweetgreen, Inc. will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicolas Jammet sold 21,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was 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 owns 1,930,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,751,178.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Sweetgreen news, CTO Wouleta Ayele sold 2,831 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $102,793.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 144,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,252,205.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicolas Jammet sold 21,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,930,233 shares in the company, valued at $67,751,178.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 426,061 shares of company stock worth $15,071,720 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 231.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the 1st quarter worth about $29,105,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,449,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Sweetgreen in the second quarter valued at about $29,109,000. Finally, Teca Partners LP acquired a new position in Sweetgreen in the fourth quarter worth about $8,475,000. 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.