Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,120,000 shares, an increase of 23.4% from the February 13th total of 16,300,000 shares. Currently, 20.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,380,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Sweetgreen Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of SG traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.97. 4,235,812 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,094,375. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.30 and a 200 day moving average of $33.04. Sweetgreen has a one year low of $18.77 and a one year high of $45.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.01 and a beta of 2.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.13, for a total transaction of $265,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 350,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,628,000.53. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Nathaniel Ru sold 2,123 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total transaction of $50,527.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,785,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,485,356.20. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,852 shares of company stock valued at $1,052,177 in the last quarter. Insiders own 21.52% of the company's stock.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,103,969 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,933,000 after buying an additional 329,789 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,544,885 shares of the company's stock worth $306,009,000 after purchasing an additional 351,240 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,516,223 shares of the company's stock worth $176,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,666 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,432,504 shares of the company's stock worth $142,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,341 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Sweetgreen by 13.3% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,313,996 shares of the company's stock worth $82,032,000 after purchasing an additional 272,340 shares during the period. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SG shares. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $41.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Sweetgreen in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.27.

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.