First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Major Shareholder Sells $158,080,000.00 in Stock

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.76, for a total transaction of $158,080,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares in the company, valued at $379,190,131.84. This trade represents a 29.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Down 3.8 %

FWRG opened at $18.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.90 and a 1-year high of $25.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 55.21, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.21.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business had revenue of $251.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on FWRG. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens increased their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Watch Restaurant Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the first quarter worth $3,333,000. Deepwater Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 68.5% in the second quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 695,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,216,000 after purchasing an additional 282,765 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the second quarter worth $3,391,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 15.6% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 24.0% in the second quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 102,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. 96.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About First Watch Restaurant Group

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.