Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit Sells 8,000,000 Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Stock

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) major shareholder Advent Partners Gpe Viii Limit sold 8,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $379,190,131.84. This trade represents a 29.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group stock traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $18.22. 1,026,906 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 611,273. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.90 and a 1 year high of $25.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.26 and its 200 day moving average is $17.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 55.21, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.85.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.02). First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company had revenue of $251.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Watch Restaurant Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FWRG. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the first quarter valued at $3,333,000. Deepwater Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group by 68.5% in the second quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 695,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,216,000 after buying an additional 282,765 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP purchased a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the second quarter valued at about $3,391,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 102,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FWRG. Stephens upped their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.30.

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.