Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) Rating Increased to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $16.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $13.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Portillo’s from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Portillo’s in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Portillo’s from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Portillo’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Portillo’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PTLO opened at $13.97 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.40. Portillo’s has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $16.17. 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 company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.72.

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.05. Portillo’s had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 5.62%. The company had revenue of $178.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Portillo’s will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PTLO. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Portillo’s by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,788,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,086,000 after acquiring an additional 175,999 shares in the last quarter. Engaged Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 121.5% during the 3rd quarter. Engaged Capital LLC now owns 6,114,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,354,513 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Portillo’s by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 41,944 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Portillo’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $12,337,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Portillo’s by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 207,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after buying an additional 70,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

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.