Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Portillo's Call Options (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Key Points

• Portillo's Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) experienced a significant spike in options trading, with a 79% increase in call options, totaling 2,229 on Tuesday.
• Despite recent analyst recommendations, including a target price cut from Bank of America to $16.00, Portillo's stock has fallen 15.8% to $8.00.
• Institutional investors hold a substantial majority of Portillo's stock, with 98.34% ownership, highlighting strong institutional interest despite the current market declines.

Portillo's Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 2,229 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof79% compared to the average volume of 1,243 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PTLO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Portillo's from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Portillo's from $17.00 to $13.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Portillo's in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Baird R W cut shares of Portillo's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Portillo's in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Portillo's Stock Down 15.8%

PTLO traded down $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,894,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,915,582. The company has a market cap of $598.19 million, a PE ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.38 and a 200-day moving average of $12.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Portillo's has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year 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 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.12. Portillo's had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 5.87%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Portillo's will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Berkshire Partners Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.23, for a total value of $122,300,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portillo's

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PTLO. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 58.3% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 137.6% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 3,517 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Portillo's by 172.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 5,395 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Portillo's in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Portillo's in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.34% of the company's stock.

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.

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