Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $39.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $33.00.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on SG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, William Blair reissued an outperform rating on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $37.00.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

Shares of SG stock opened at $34.47 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.06 and a beta of 2.30. Sweetgreen has a 1 year low of $8.64 and a 1 year high of $37.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.78.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $184.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.79 million. Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 14.33% and a negative return on equity of 19.34%. Sweetgreen’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.20) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Sweetgreen will post -0.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In related news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 3,868 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $140,447.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 114,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,169,913.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 3,868 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total value of $140,447.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 114,842 shares in the company, valued at $4,169,913.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total transaction of $4,575,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,050,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 181,577 shares of company stock valued at $5,678,557 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SG. Boulder Hill Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Sweetgreen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $868,000. Conrad N. Hilton Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Sweetgreen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $434,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,110,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,350,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,361,000 after buying an additional 224,522 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Sweetgreen during the 1st quarter valued at $490,000. Institutional investors own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

About Sweetgreen

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.