First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,310,000 shares, a growth of 19.7% from the November 30th total of 3,600,000 shares. Approximately 10.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 743,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FWRG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.30.

Insider Activity at First Watch Restaurant Group

In other news, major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.76, for a total transaction of $158,080,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,189,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,190,131.84. The trade was a 29.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Watch Restaurant Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 44.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 103,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 31,907 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 38,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 7,631 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 163.9% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 59,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after buying an additional 36,870 shares during the period. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $584,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

FWRG stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.70. The company had a trading volume of 364,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,152. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 56.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.89. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 1-year low of $12.90 and a 1-year high of $25.98.

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

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

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.