Sweetgreen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SG)

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 11,745 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 85% compared to the typical volume of 6,336 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Sweetgreen from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 1,010 shares of Sweetgreen stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total value of $40,410.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,930,228 shares in the company, valued at $77,228,422.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 1,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total transaction of $40,410.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,930,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,228,422.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nathaniel Ru sold 1,263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total value of $50,532.63. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,952,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $78,104,681.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 428,334 shares of company stock valued at $15,162,663. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 6.2% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 12,326,336 shares of the company's stock valued at $371,516,000 after buying an additional 721,740 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sweetgreen by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,420,947 shares of the company's stock worth $212,713,000 after acquiring an additional 70,395 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 231.8% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,688,403 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,878,216 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 2.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,763,572 shares of the company's stock worth $53,151,000 after purchasing an additional 39,823 shares during the period. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sweetgreen by 42.6% in the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,028 shares of the company's stock worth $49,521,000 after purchasing an additional 490,806 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.75% of the company's stock.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

SG stock traded up $1.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.02. 2,536,536 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,814,222. Sweetgreen has a 52 week low of $8.64 and a 52 week high of $40.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.01 and a beta of 2.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.55.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.02). Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 14.33% and a negative return on equity of 19.34%. The business had revenue of $184.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Sweetgreen will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.