Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Stock Price

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 43.51% from the company’s current price.

SG has been the subject of several other reports. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Sweetgreen in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $41.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Sweetgreen from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.18.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

NYSE SG opened at $15.33 on Friday. Sweetgreen has a one year low of $14.61 and a one year high of $45.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.65 and a beta of 2.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.45.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.21). The business had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.68 million. Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 18.82% and a negative net margin of 13.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Sweetgreen will post -0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In related news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 10,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.43, for a total transaction of $288,774.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 344,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,093,373.65. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Nathaniel Ru sold 2,123 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total value of $50,527.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,785,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,485,356.20. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,852 shares of company stock valued at $871,417 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Sweetgreen by 58.3% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 116,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after acquiring an additional 42,988 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych increased its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 70.8% during the first quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 4,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen in the first quarter valued at $852,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 9.5% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 29,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,516 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Sweetgreen by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 11,707,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,911,000 after purchasing an additional 386,141 shares in the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.