Bank of Nova Scotia Invests $235,000 in Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO)

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PTLO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Portillo’s by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,571,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,371,000 after purchasing an additional 97,801 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Portillo’s by 10.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,788,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,086,000 after purchasing an additional 175,999 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Portillo’s by 80.5% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,652,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,537,000 after purchasing an additional 737,049 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Portillo’s by 0.8% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Portillo’s by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,060,000 after buying an additional 12,405 shares during the period. 98.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PTLO shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Portillo’s from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of Portillo’s in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Portillo’s from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stephens upped their price objective on Portillo’s from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Portillo’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Five equities 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.86.

Portillo’s Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PTLO opened at $12.08 on Wednesday. Portillo’s Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.38 and a 52-week high of $15.78. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.10. The company has a market capitalization of $901.20 million, a PE ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.82.

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

Portillo’s 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.