Morgan Stanley Cuts Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO) Price Target to $16.00

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $17.00 to $16.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Separately, Stephens assumed coverage on Portillo's in a research report on Friday. They issued an overweight rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.43.

Portillo's Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PTLO traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $12.92. 809,344 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 865,805. The stock has a market cap of $942.77 million, a P/E ratio of 41.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Portillo's has a 12-month low of $12.57 and a 12-month high of $23.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.61.

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $187.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.95 million. Portillo's had a return on equity of 4.79% and a net margin of 2.71%. Portillo's's quarterly revenue was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Portillo's will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Portillo's

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PTLO. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Portillo's by 41.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 45,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,113,000 after buying an additional 13,170 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Portillo's by 57.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 33,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 12,455 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Portillo's by 5.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,735,000 after buying an additional 3,511 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Portillo's by 25.4% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 37,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 7,601 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Portillo's by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares during the period. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.