Morgan Stanley Increases Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Price Target to $16.00

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $11.00 to $16.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential downside of 29.61% from the stock’s current price.

SG has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Sweetgreen from $17.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Sweetgreen from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Sweetgreen from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sweetgreen from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.50.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

NYSE:SG opened at $22.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of -22.73 and a beta of 2.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.34. Sweetgreen has a fifty-two week low of $7.25 and a fifty-two week high of $26.45.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $153.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.04 million. Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 19.41% and a negative return on equity of 21.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.44) EPS. Research analysts predict that Sweetgreen will post -0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In other Sweetgreen news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.47, for a total transaction of $52,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,987,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 5,000 shares of Sweetgreen stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.47, for a total value of $52,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,987,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mitch Reback sold 10,288 shares of Sweetgreen stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $123,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 432,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,188,716. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 145,555 shares of company stock worth $2,266,739. Corporate insiders own 22.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Sweetgreen by 146.1% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,291,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,350,000 after purchasing an additional 3,141,070 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Sweetgreen by 1,435.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,674,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565,700 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in Sweetgreen by 421.6% in the 1st quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,262,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,265 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Sweetgreen by 1,009.4% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,009,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,653,000 after purchasing an additional 918,656 shares during the period. Finally, Teca Partners LP bought a new position in Sweetgreen in the 4th quarter worth about $8,475,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

Sweetgreen Company Profile

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.