** Restaurant chain Sweetgreen SG.N shares soar 9.5% to $9.84, an over 9-month high, after JP Morgan upgrades to 'overweight' from 'neutral', saying brand transformation is gaining momentum

** Brokerage hikes PT by $5 to $13, highest on Wall Street, per LSEG, implying ~45% upside to stock's last close

** After an "encouraging" meeting with management, JPM points out in a note that SG has been more aggressively adopting new products "people actually want to eat", like wraps

** SG's brand transformation is gaining steam with "lower-risk" visibility into free cash flow inflection, JPM says

** Analysts believe SG can maintain ingredient integrity while better nationalizing both its supply chain and in-store operations

** With the advance, SG stock up 41% MTD putting it up 44% YTD

** Of 16 brokerages covering SG, recommendation breakdown is 4 "strong buy" or "buy", 11 "hold" and 1 "sell"; median PT $7