Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Portillo's (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) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 2,229 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof79% compared to the average daily volume of 1,243 call options.

Portillo's Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:PTLO traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $7.42. The company had a trading volume of 5,206,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,466,450. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.05. Portillo's has a one year low of $7.20 and a one year high of $15.78. The company has a market capitalization of $555.16 million, a PE ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michelle Greig Hook purchased 40,000 shares of Portillo's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $7.67 per share, for a total transaction of $306,800.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 173,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,330,016.35. This trade represents a 29.98% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Berkshire Partners Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.23, for a total transaction of $122,300,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 197,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,514,480 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Portillo's

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Portillo's by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 1,944,983 shares of the company's stock worth $18,283,000 after acquiring an additional 125,073 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Portillo's during the first quarter worth about $1,445,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Portillo's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Portillo's in the fourth quarter valued at $478,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Portillo's during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,827,000. 98.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Portillo's from $17.00 to $13.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Portillo's from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Portillo's from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Portillo's in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Portillo's from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.50.

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.