Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 121,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,445,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Portillo’s as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Portillo’s by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,571,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,371,000 after buying an additional 97,801 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Portillo’s by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 1,944,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,283,000 after buying an additional 125,073 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Portillo’s by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,751,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,467,000 after buying an additional 132,112 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Portillo’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,301,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,236,000 after buying an additional 9,866 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Portillo’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,060,000 after buying an additional 12,405 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Portillo’s Stock Up 1.2%

Portillo’s stock opened at $11.19 on Friday. Portillo’s Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.38 and a fifty-two week high of $15.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.16. The company has a market capitalization of $837.24 million, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 1.83.

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $176.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.76 million. Portillo’s had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Portillo’s Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Berkshire Partners Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.23, for a total transaction of $122,300,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PTLO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of Portillo’s in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Baird R W downgraded Portillo’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Portillo’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on Portillo’s from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Portillo’s in a research report 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

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.