Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Sweetgreen Call Options (NYSE:SG)

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders bought 14,126 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 73% compared to the average volume of 8,171 call options.

Insider Activity at Sweetgreen

In other Sweetgreen news, COO Jason Miles Cochran sold 4,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.21, for a total value of $29,863.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 207,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,285,941.96. This trade represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Jamie McConnell sold 15,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.21, for a total value of $93,354.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 210,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,307,136.69. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 18.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SG. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in Sweetgreen during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,000. Curated Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Sweetgreen in the 3rd quarter valued at $480,000. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in Sweetgreen by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the 2nd quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sweetgreen during the 2nd quarter valued at $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sweetgreen from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp raised shares of Sweetgreen from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $9.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Sweetgreen from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sweetgreen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.66.

Sweetgreen Stock Performance

NYSE SG traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $10.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,956,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,069,750. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.16 and a beta of 2.16. Sweetgreen has a 52 week low of $4.49 and a 52 week high of $10.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.48.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.09). Sweetgreen had a net margin of 2.01% and a negative return on equity of 32.94%. The company had revenue of $192.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.20) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Sweetgreen will post -1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc operates a fast-casual restaurant chain focused on fresh, made-to-order meals. Its menu includes salads, warm grain bowls, protein plates, sides and beverages, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients, customizable meals and health-conscious dining.

The company serves customers through company-operated restaurants in the United States, as well as digital channels that support online ordering, delivery, pickup and its loyalty program. Sweetgreen also uses technology in restaurant operations, including automated kitchen systems at select locations, to help improve consistency and service efficiency.

Sweetgreen was founded in 2007 by Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Nathaniel Ru while they were students at Georgetown University.