Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Position in Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB - Free Report) by 33.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,718 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,862 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.24% of Potbelly worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Potbelly in the third quarter valued at $2,332,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Potbelly by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 902,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,527,000 after acquiring an additional 160,763 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Potbelly in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,070,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Potbelly by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 380,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 86,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Potbelly during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $438,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Potbelly news, major shareholder David Nierenberg purchased 7,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.23 per share, with a total value of $70,148.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 101,998 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,441.54. The trade was a 8.05 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Potbelly Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of PBPB stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.35. The company had a trading volume of 328,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 143,815. The company has a market cap of $369.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Potbelly Co. has a 12 month low of $6.28 and a 12 month high of $14.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.63.

Potbelly (NASDAQ:PBPB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $115.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.30 million. Potbelly had a return on equity of 18.69% and a net margin of 8.14%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Potbelly Co. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Potbelly

Potbelly Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises Potbelly sandwich shops in the United States. The company was formerly known as Potbelly Sandwich Works, Inc and changed its name to Potbelly Corporation in 2002. Potbelly Corporation was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.