Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reissued by stock analysts at Stephens in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $5.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 7.64% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Portillo’s from $5.50 to $4.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Portillo’s in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Portillo’s to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Portillo’s from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.66.

Portillo’s Trading Up 0.1%

PTLO stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $4.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 797,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,657,862. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $352.74 million, a PE ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.57. Portillo’s has a 52 week low of $3.29 and a 52 week high of $6.69.

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.09. The business had revenue of $198.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.22 million. Portillo’s had a return on equity of 2.78% and a net margin of 1.85%. Portillo’s’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Portillo’s will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director I Jr acquired 65,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.59 per share, for a total transaction of $299,979.45. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 551,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,532,624.30. This trade represents a 13.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Portillo’s

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PTLO. State Street Corp lifted its position in Portillo’s by 12.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,454,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,893,000 after acquiring an additional 166,617 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Portillo’s by 34.0% in the second quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 78,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Portillo’s by 8.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 131,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 10,570 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 501.5% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 269,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 224,486 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 29.5% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 65,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 14,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Portillo’s Company Profile

Portillo’s, Inc operates a chain of fast-casual restaurants known for Chicago-style food. Its menu features Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef and sausage sandwiches, burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, French fries, milkshakes and its signature chocolate cake.

The company serves customers through company-operated restaurants, drive-thru lanes, takeout and delivery services, as well as catering. Portillo’s restaurants are concentrated in the Midwest and have expanded into select Sun Belt markets, including Arizona and Florida.

Portillo’s traces its origins to 1963, when founder Dick Portillo opened a small hot dog stand called The Dog House in Villa Park, Illinois.