Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) Trading 8.9% Higher After Earnings Beat

Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO)’s stock price was up 8.9% during trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $11.28 and last traded at $11.40. Approximately 1,833,785 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 30% from the average daily volume of 1,413,606 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.47.

The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.01. Portillo’s had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 5.62%. The business had revenue of $176.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PTLO shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Portillo’s from $17.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Portillo’s from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Portillo’s in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 price target on shares of Portillo’s in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Portillo’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Portillo’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.71.

Institutional Trading of Portillo’s

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Portillo’s by 80.5% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,652,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,537,000 after purchasing an additional 737,049 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Portillo’s by 139.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,102,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,360,000 after purchasing an additional 641,273 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Portillo’s during the 4th quarter valued at $4,105,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Portillo’s during the 4th quarter valued at $2,590,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Portillo’s in the 4th quarter worth $2,623,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Portillo’s Stock Up 7.8 %

The company has a market cap of $841.89 million, a P/E ratio of 26.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.89 and a 200 day moving average of $11.90.

About Portillo’s

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.