Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Stake in First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in First Watch Restaurant Group by 17.1%, owning approximately 1.57% of the company valued at $15.93 million after selling nearly 200,000 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Champlain Investment Partners and Vanguard Group, significantly increased their holdings in First Watch Restaurant Group during the last quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• The company's stock has experienced recent downgrades in price targets from various brokerages, with an average target price now set at $20.82, despite a majority of analysts maintaining a "buy" rating.

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG - Free Report) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 957,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 197,465 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 1.57% of First Watch Restaurant Group worth $15,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FWRG. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in First Watch Restaurant Group by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,582,303 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,057,000 after purchasing an additional 958,417 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,351,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,764,000 after buying an additional 479,741 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of First Watch Restaurant Group by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,141,209 shares of the company's stock worth $39,848,000 after acquiring an additional 154,784 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in First Watch Restaurant Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,095,000. Finally, 12 West Capital Management LP boosted its stake in First Watch Restaurant Group by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. 12 West Capital Management LP now owns 2,013,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,469,000 after purchasing an additional 337,920 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder International L.P. Advent sold 4,500,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.70, for a total transaction of $66,150,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,689,784 shares in the company, valued at $215,939,824.80. This represents a 23.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FWRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark dropped their target price on First Watch Restaurant Group from $26.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on First Watch Restaurant Group from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of First Watch Restaurant Group from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.82.

First Watch Restaurant Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ FWRG traded up $0.46 during trading on Monday, hitting $17.24. 1,465,104 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 686,515. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.41 and a 200-day moving average of $17.78. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.90 and a 12-month high of $22.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.41, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.91.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.05). First Watch Restaurant Group had a net margin of 1.03% and a return on equity of 1.84%. The business had revenue of $282.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $282.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. The company's revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.