CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $88.64.

CAVA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised CAVA Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of CAVA Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CAVA Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of CAVA Group from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of CAVA Group from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Douglas Thompson acquired 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $66.52 per share, for a total transaction of $432,380.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 19,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,558.92. The trade was a 50.50% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CAVA Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in CAVA Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $757,013,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of CAVA Group by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,440,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,344,000 after buying an additional 1,805,174 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of CAVA Group by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,885,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,718,000 after buying an additional 656,581 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CAVA Group by 76.9% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,605,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000,000 after buying an additional 697,699 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CAVA Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,936,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,687,000 after buying an additional 40,356 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.15% of the company’s stock.

CAVA Group Price Performance

Shares of CAVA stock opened at $54.49 on Friday. CAVA Group has a 12-month low of $43.41 and a 12-month high of $98.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.04.

CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. CAVA Group had a return on equity of 8.28% and a net margin of 4.82%.The firm had revenue of $368.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.09 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CAVA Group will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CAVA Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, September 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

CAVA Group Company Profile

CAVA Group, Inc is a fast-casual restaurant company focused on Mediterranean-inspired food and hospitality. Its restaurants offer customizable meals such as grain bowls, salads, pitas and dips, with ingredients and flavors influenced by the cuisines of the Mediterranean region. The company also provides digital ordering, delivery and catering services through its restaurant platform.

CAVA began as a Washington, DC-area restaurant concept and has expanded its operations across the United States.