Raymond James Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Stock

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Raymond James Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial’s price target suggests a potential upside of 30.64% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on FWRG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $17.00 target price on First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. TD Cowen upgraded First Watch Restaurant Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stephens dropped their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $20.91.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock opened at $16.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.92. First Watch Restaurant Group has a one year low of $12.90 and a one year high of $22.71.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $282.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $282.98 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 1.84% and a net margin of 1.03%. First Watch Restaurant Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. Equities analysts expect that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at First Watch Restaurant Group

In related news, major shareholder International L.P. Advent sold 4,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.70, for a total transaction of $66,150,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 14,689,784 shares in the company, valued at $215,939,824.80. The trade was a 23.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group during the 1st quarter valued at $259,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 272.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $940,000 after purchasing an additional 41,289 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 708,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,799,000 after purchasing an additional 15,304 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 309,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,766,000 after purchasing an additional 58,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,141,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,848,000 after purchasing an additional 154,784 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.