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

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $25.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of 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. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.30.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

Shares of FWRG opened at $21.23 on Tuesday. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 12 month low of $12.90 and a 12 month high of $25.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.34, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.89. 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 (NASDAQ:FWRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $251.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.17 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The business’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Watch Restaurant Group news, major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,190,131.84. This trade represents a 29.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FWRG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,385,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,338,000 after buying an additional 189,740 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 112.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 62,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 32,849 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 98.7% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 39,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 19,598 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,340,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,545,000 after purchasing an additional 281,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $281,000. 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.