Investors Purchase Large Volume of Portillo’s Call Options (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 3,247 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 100% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,626 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PTLO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Portillo’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $13.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Portillo’s in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Portillo’s from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Portillo’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portillo’s

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PTLO. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 175,999 shares during the period. Engaged Capital LLC lifted 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 valued at $82,368,000 after buying an additional 3,354,513 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Portillo’s by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after buying an additional 41,944 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Portillo’s in the 3rd quarter worth $12,337,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Portillo’s by 51.2% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 207,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after acquiring an additional 70,409 shares during the period. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Portillo’s Trading Up 7.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PTLO traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $13.40. 1,164,771 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,726,566. The business’s 50 day moving average is $10.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $994.40 million, a PE ratio of 31.99, a P/E/G ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Portillo’s has a one year low of $8.38 and a one year high of $16.17.

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

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.