Wall Street Zen Upgrades First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) to “Sell”

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Freedom Capital upgraded First Watch Restaurant Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Benchmark cut their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.56.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock opened at $12.42 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.74. The company has a market cap of $766.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.83, a PEG ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1 year low of $9.97 and a 1 year high of $19.53.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 2.85% and a net margin of 1.35%.The company had revenue of $354.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Watch Restaurant Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the second quarter worth about $58,445,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 96.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,957,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,946,084 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 81.4% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,357,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,074 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,320,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,080,000 after buying an additional 432,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 19.7% in the 1st 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. Institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

About First Watch Restaurant Group

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.