First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.9091.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FWRG shares. Zacks Research cut First Watch Restaurant Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Watch Restaurant Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FWRG. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in First Watch Restaurant Group by 67.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 54,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 21,830 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 8,815.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the period. Riverbridge Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,524,000. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $173,000. 96.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Watch Restaurant Group Price Performance

Shares of FWRG opened at $16.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 212.03, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.03. First Watch Restaurant Group has a twelve month low of $12.90 and a twelve month high of $22.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $316.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.31 million. First Watch Restaurant Group had a return on equity of 0.83% and a net margin of 0.42%. Equities analysts forecast that First Watch Restaurant Group will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Watch Restaurant Group Company Profile

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc (NASDAQ: FWRG) operates a specialty daytime dining concept focused on breakfast, brunch and lunch. The company’s casual, full-service cafés emphasize fresh ingredients, made-to-order entrées and a seasonally driven menu that ranges from omelets and Benedicts to salads, skillets and afternoon sandwiches. First Watch positions itself as a daytime-only destination, with most locations opening early morning and closing by mid-afternoon.

Founded in 1983 by Ken Pendery and John Sullivan in Pacific Grove, California, First Watch began as a single café and gradually expanded through company-owned and select franchised locations.