Portillo's Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) Short Interest Up 34.8% in April

Portillo's Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,460,000 shares, a growth of 34.8% from the March 31st total of 4,050,000 shares. Currently, 9.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 909,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PTLO. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Portillo's by 1,493.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,593 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Portillo's in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Portillo's in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Portillo's by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Portillo's in the 4th quarter valued at about $71,000. Institutional investors own 98.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens began coverage on Portillo's in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Portillo's from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Portillo's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.43.

Portillo's Price Performance

NASDAQ PTLO traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 815,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 944,335. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Portillo's has a 1 year low of $11.53 and a 1 year high of $23.99. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $13.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.38. The company has a market capitalization of $877.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.85.

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $187.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.95 million. Portillo's had a net margin of 2.71% and a return on equity of 4.79%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 24.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Portillo's will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.