First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Upgraded at TD Cowen

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) was upgraded by equities research analysts at TD Cowen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $22.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.44% from the company’s previous close.

FWRG has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Securities raised shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price (down previously from $24.00) on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $21.00 price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Watch Restaurant Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.45.

First Watch Restaurant Group Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of FWRG stock opened at $18.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.91. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1 year low of $12.90 and a 1 year high of $25.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.23. 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 data on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.01). First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The company had revenue of $263.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $262.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jay Anthony Wolszczak sold 5,743 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $96,539.83. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $634,880.08. This represents a 13.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Anthony Tomasso sold 42,039 shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $706,675.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 389,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,553,075.92. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Watch Restaurant Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 847,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,779,000 after buying an additional 34,200 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 38,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 7,467 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in First Watch Restaurant Group in the fourth quarter worth about $377,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 243,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,524,000 after purchasing an additional 72,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $947,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

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.