Bank of Nova Scotia Makes New Investment in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Portillo’s by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,571,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,371,000 after acquiring an additional 97,801 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Portillo’s by 10.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,788,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,086,000 after purchasing an additional 175,999 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Portillo’s by 80.5% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,652,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,537,000 after purchasing an additional 737,049 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,301,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,236,000 after buying an additional 9,866 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Portillo’s by 1.0% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Portillo’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PTLO opened at $12.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $901.20 million, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.82. Portillo’s Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.38 and a 1-year high of $15.78.

Portillo’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.15. Portillo’s had a return on equity of 5.62% and a net margin of 3.65%. The firm had revenue of $184.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Portillo’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Portillo’s Inc. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Portillo’s from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W downgraded shares of Portillo’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Portillo’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Portillo’s from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Portillo’s from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Portillo’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.86.

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.