First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $25.00 target price on the stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 21.18% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on FWRG. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James raised their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.30.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

Shares of FWRG opened at $20.63 on Tuesday. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 52-week low of $12.90 and a 52-week high of $25.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.16.

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

Insider Activity at First Watch Restaurant Group

In other news, major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.76, for a total value of $158,080,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,190,131.84. This represents a 29.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 505.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 172,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,690,000 after purchasing an additional 144,014 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,757,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 769,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,008,000 after acquiring an additional 91,416 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 22.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,986,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,988,000 after acquiring an additional 366,227 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 9.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 625,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,758,000 after purchasing an additional 54,282 shares during the last quarter. 96.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.