Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG)

Key Points

• Sweetgreen experienced a significant surge in put options trading, with 33,370 contracts purchased, reflecting a 166% increase over the average daily volume.
• Several analysts have lowered their price targets for Sweetgreen, with UBS reducing its target from $19.00 to $13.00 and TD Cowen from $15.00 to $10.00.
• Sweetgreen reported a loss of ($0.20) EPS for the last quarter, missing consensus estimates and indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of only 0.5%.

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 33,370 put options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof166% compared to the average daily volume of 12,539 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SG. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $19.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Sweetgreen from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Sweetgreen from $23.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $27.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sweetgreen presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.69.

Sweetgreen Price Performance

NYSE:SG traded down $0.69 on Monday, reaching $8.25. 13,652,193 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,908,939. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.31. Sweetgreen has a 52 week low of $8.11 and a 52 week high of $45.12. The firm has a market cap of $974.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.82 and a beta of 2.01.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.08). Sweetgreen had a negative return on equity of 22.21% and a negative net margin of 14.29%.The business had revenue of $185.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.47 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sweetgreen has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sweetgreen will post -0.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sweetgreen

In other news, CFO Mitch Reback sold 11,530 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.19, for a total transaction of $105,960.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 322,891 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,967,368.29. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 19.78% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SG. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Sweetgreen by 47.1% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,983 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Sweetgreen by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 15,981 shares of the company's stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 98.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,129 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its position in shares of Sweetgreen by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. 95.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

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