Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.33.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Potbelly in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Craig Hallum lowered their price target on Potbelly from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Potbelly Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PBPB opened at $8.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.88 million, a PE ratio of 69.50 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.72. Potbelly has a twelve month low of $6.28 and a twelve month high of $14.36.

Potbelly (NASDAQ:PBPB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.03. Potbelly had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The company had revenue of $119.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Potbelly will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Potbelly news, major shareholder Nierenberg Investment Manageme acquired 23,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $6.62 per share, for a total transaction of $154,868.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,561,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,340,340.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Potbelly by 17.7% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,011,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,121,000 after buying an additional 152,200 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Potbelly during the first quarter worth about $5,820,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Potbelly by 224.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 300,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,642,000 after buying an additional 208,170 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Potbelly by 152.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 293,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,357,000 after buying an additional 177,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Potbelly by 28.9% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 243,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,951,000 after purchasing an additional 54,667 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.60% of the company’s stock.

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.