First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FWRG shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. TD Cowen restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (up previously from $19.00) on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Monday, July 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:FWRG opened at $19.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.81, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.01. First Watch Restaurant Group has a one year low of $12.75 and a one year high of $20.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $216.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $209.65 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 2.11% and a return on equity of 3.18%. Analysts anticipate that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Watch Restaurant Group news, Director David Paresky sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.42, for a total transaction of $49,260,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,539,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $567,143,253.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other First Watch Restaurant Group news, Director David Paresky sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.42, for a total transaction of $49,260,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,539,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $567,143,253.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William A. Kussell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.38, for a total transaction of $193,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 40,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $790,607.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,460,000 shares of company stock worth $56,842,800 in the last quarter. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,745,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,205,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,755,000. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,901,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,442,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,829,000 after purchasing an additional 307,925 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc 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. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Bradenton, Florida.