Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) Trading Down 2.9% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) fell 2.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $12.30 and last traded at $12.11. 120,477 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,278,049 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PTLO. Stephens upped their price objective on Portillo’s from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Portillo’s from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Portillo’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Portillo’s from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Portillo’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.29.

Portillo’s Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $919.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.21.

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $184.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $185.16 million. Portillo’s had a return on equity of 5.62% and a net margin of 3.65%. Portillo’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Portillo’s Inc. will post 0.35 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its position in Portillo’s by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 43,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Portillo’s by 229.0% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Portillo’s by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,788,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,086,000 after purchasing an additional 175,999 shares during the last quarter. CenterStar Asset Management LLC increased its position in Portillo’s by 348.4% in the 4th quarter. CenterStar Asset Management LLC now owns 60,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 47,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Portillo’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,590,000. 98.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Portillo’s Company Profile

Portillo’s Inc owns and operates fast casual restaurants in the United States. The company offers Chicago-style hot dogs and sausages, Italian beef sandwiches, char-grilled burgers, chopped salads, crinkle-cut French fries, homemade chocolate cakes, and chocolate cake shake. It offers its products through its website, application, and certain third-party platforms.