Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) Raised to “Buy” at Citigroup

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) was upgraded by stock analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $49.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $44.00. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 52.27% from the company’s previous close.

SG has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Sweetgreen in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Sweetgreen from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Sweetgreen in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.10.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

Sweetgreen stock opened at $32.18 on Friday. Sweetgreen has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.59. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of -41.26 and a beta of 2.38.

Insider Activity at Sweetgreen

In other news, insider Adrienne Gemperle sold 5,372 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.05, for a total transaction of $182,916.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 107,313 shares in the company, valued at $3,654,007.65. This represents a 4.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicolas Jammet sold 170,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.73, for a total transaction of $6,421,608.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,760,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,406,082.82. This trade represents a 8.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 640,838 shares of company stock worth $24,800,733. 21.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SG. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in Sweetgreen during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sweetgreen during the 2nd quarter valued at $76,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Sweetgreen in the third quarter worth $155,000. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Sweetgreen in the third quarter worth $177,000. Institutional investors own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

Sweetgreen Company Profile

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.