Morgan Stanley Lowers Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO) Price Target to $10.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has lowered its price target for Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO) from $12.00 to $10.00 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 29.79% from the stock's previous close.
• Other analysts have different ratings for Portillo's, with William Blair giving an "outperform" rating, while Robert W. Baird and UBS have set much lower price targets of $8.00 and $9.00, respectively.
• Portillo's reported a net margin of 3.92% and achieved revenue of $188.46 million in its last quarter, which was below analysts' expectations of $197.04 million.

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO - Free Report) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Portillo's in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Portillo's from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Portillo's in a research report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Portillo's from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $8.00 price target on Portillo's in a report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Portillo's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.50.

Portillo's Stock Down 3.4%

NASDAQ PTLO traded down $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.46. The stock had a trading volume of 2,563,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,056,034. The company has a market capitalization of $557.75 million, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.81. The company's 50-day moving average price is $11.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.29. Portillo's has a 12 month low of $7.20 and a 12 month high of $15.78.

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.12. Portillo's had a return on equity of 6.25% and a net margin of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $188.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Portillo's will post 0.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Portillo's

In other Portillo's news, Director Berkshire Partners Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of Portillo's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.23, for a total transaction of $122,300,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 6.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PTLO. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Portillo's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,571,434 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,371,000 after acquiring an additional 97,801 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,301,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,236,000 after acquiring an additional 9,866 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,547 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,060,000 after acquiring an additional 12,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Portillo's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $696,000. 98.34% of the stock is currently 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.