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

Shares of Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the four ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.33.

PBPB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Potbelly in a report on Monday, August 12th. Craig Hallum dropped their target price 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 Up 2.0 %

Potbelly stock opened at $7.98 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.53. Potbelly has a 12 month low of $6.28 and a 12 month high of $14.36. The company has a market capitalization of $238.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.50 and a beta of 1.16.

Potbelly (NASDAQ:PBPB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. Potbelly had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 7.58%. The business had revenue of $119.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Potbelly will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Nierenberg Investment Manageme purchased 23,394 shares of Potbelly stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owns 1,561,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,340,340.70. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Potbelly

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBPB. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Potbelly during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in shares of Potbelly in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Potbelly by 9,350.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 7,761 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Potbelly in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Potbelly by 722.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 9,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 8,289 shares during the last quarter. 72.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Potbelly Company Profile

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.