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

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.25.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FWRG shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $14.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Wednesday.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FWRG opened at $12.10 on Friday. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1 year low of $10.09 and a 1 year high of $19.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.04 and its 200 day moving average is $15.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $745.90 million, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a P/E/G ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 1.11.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.02). First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 2.85% and a net margin of 1.38%.The business had revenue of $330.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Watch Restaurant Group

In other news, insider Matthew Eisenacher sold 2,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $34,555.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 67,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $841,631.96. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Laura Anne Sorensen sold 4,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.59, for a total transaction of $59,575.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 239,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,009,639.50. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 68,013 shares of company stock valued at $853,606 over the last three months. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 19.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,084,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,328,000 after buying an additional 508,704 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 96.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,957,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,477,000 after buying an additional 1,946,084 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 25.3% in the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 13,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 2,714 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 702.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 11,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 310,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,258,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc (NASDAQ: FWRG) operates a specialty daytime dining concept focused on breakfast, brunch and lunch. The company’s casual, full-service cafés emphasize fresh ingredients, made-to-order entrées and a seasonally driven menu that ranges from omelets and Benedicts to salads, skillets and afternoon sandwiches. First Watch positions itself as a daytime-only destination, with most locations opening early morning and closing by mid-afternoon.

Founded in 1983 by Ken Pendery and John Sullivan in Pacific Grove, California, First Watch began as a single café and gradually expanded through company-owned and select franchised locations.