CAVA Group, Inc. $CAVA Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its stake in shares of CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,002,273 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,327 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.86% of CAVA Group worth $58,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of CAVA Group by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,440,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,805,174 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA acquired a new position in shares of CAVA Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $762,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of CAVA Group by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,885,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,718,000 after purchasing an additional 656,581 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CAVA Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of CAVA Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 632,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,142,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. 73.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Theodoros Xenohristos sold 9,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.75, for a total transaction of $721,259.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 327,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,148,589.50. The trade was a 2.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Kelly Costanza sold 10,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.87, for a total transaction of $799,498.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 113,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,093,199.50. This represents a 8.08% 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. Insiders sold 24,235 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,420 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CAVA. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CAVA Group from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets set a $100.00 price objective on CAVA Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on CAVA Group from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on CAVA Group from $88.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on CAVA Group from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.19.

CAVA Group Stock Performance

Shares of CAVA opened at $73.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 141.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.70. CAVA Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.41 and a fifty-two week high of $98.79.

CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $438.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.89 million. CAVA Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 4.79%.CAVA Group’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CAVA Group, Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CAVA Group Profile

CAVA Group, Inc (NYSE: CAVA) is a leading fast-casual restaurant company specializing in Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. Operating under the CAVA brand, the company offers customizable bowls, pitas and salads built around a variety of proteins, grains, fresh vegetables and house-made spreads. With a focus on high-quality ingredients and made-to-order preparation, CAVA aims to deliver a casual yet elevated dining experience for dine-in, takeout and catering customers.

Founded in 2011 in the Washington, DC metro area by Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Katsanis and Brett Schulman, CAVA has pursued an aggressive growth strategy that included the 2018 acquisition of Zoe’s Kitchen.