Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Trading Down 6.9% – Time to Sell?

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) dropped 6.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $31.20 and last traded at $30.77. Approximately 354,685 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 2,455,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SG. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Sweetgreen in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Sweetgreen from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.20.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.34.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $173.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.67 million. Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 18.82% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sweetgreen, Inc. will post -0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In other news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 14,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $663,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,930,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,860,260. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nicolas Jammet sold 170,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.73, for a total value of $6,421,608.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,760,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,406,082.82. The trade was a 8.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 608,877 shares of company stock worth $23,466,012. Insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 939,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,299,000 after acquiring an additional 547,816 shares during the period. Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sweetgreen during the fourth quarter worth $13,695,000. Amundi acquired a new stake in Sweetgreen in the fourth quarter valued at $9,112,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 13.3% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,313,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,032,000 after buying an additional 272,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 848.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 270,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,576,000 after buying an additional 241,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.