Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $12.49, but opened at $12.95. Portillo’s shares last traded at $13.35, with a volume of 1,048,749 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PTLO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Portillo’s in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Portillo’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Portillo’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Portillo’s Trading Up 6.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $989.38 million, a PE ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Portillo’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 43.5% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Portillo’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Portillo’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, Sonora Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Portillo’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. 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.