First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.36.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective (down previously from $25.00) on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

Shares of FWRG stock opened at $17.50 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 0.90. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $282.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $282.98 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 1.03% and a return on equity of 1.84%. First Watch Restaurant Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. On average, analysts expect that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder International L.P. Advent sold 4,500,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider owned 14,689,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $215,939,824.80. This represents a 23.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 78,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 23.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 45,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 12,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in First Watch Restaurant Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $228,000. Institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

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.