First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $242.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.03 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 4.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 EPS.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.34. 135,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 502,605. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.46, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. First Watch Restaurant Group has a 52 week low of $15.67 and a 52 week high of $25.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FWRG shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays raised their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric Richard Hartman sold 1,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.03, for a total transaction of $36,894.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,286,967.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Eric Richard Hartman sold 1,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.03, for a total transaction of $36,894.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,286,967.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Eisenacher sold 45,000 shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.46, for a total value of $1,100,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $887,310.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,085,127 shares of company stock worth $170,038,222 in the last 90 days. 5.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.