Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Holdings in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,301,712 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,866 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Portillo’s were worth $12,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in Portillo’s by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Portillo’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Portillo’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Portillo’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, Sonora Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Portillo’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Portillo’s Stock Performance

PTLO opened at $10.52 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $784.82 million, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $13.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.14. Portillo’s Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $15.78.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PTLO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on Portillo’s from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Portillo’s from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Portillo’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of Portillo’s in a report on Monday. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Portillo’s from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.