First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,780,000 shares, a decrease of 21.7% from the October 31st total of 4,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 707,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 9.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FWRG. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Stephens upped their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.76, for a total transaction of $158,080,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,190,131.84. The trade was a 29.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FWRG. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC boosted its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 180.1% in the third quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC now owns 6,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 4,250 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $119,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $157,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. 96.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock opened at $19.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.78 and a 200-day moving average of $16.93. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 57.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1-year low of $12.90 and a 1-year high of $25.98.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $251.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.17 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About First Watch Restaurant Group

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, 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. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc was founded in 1983 and is based in Bradenton, Florida.