The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys Shares of 10,726 Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Potbelly Co. (NASDAQ:PBPB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Potbelly in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,411,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Potbelly during the first quarter valued at $5,820,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Potbelly by 17.7% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,011,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,121,000 after purchasing an additional 152,200 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Potbelly during the second quarter valued at about $1,070,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Potbelly by 224.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 300,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,642,000 after purchasing an additional 208,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on PBPB shares. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Potbelly in a research note 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.33.

Potbelly Price Performance

Shares of Potbelly stock opened at $8.47 on Monday. Potbelly Co. has a 52 week low of $6.28 and a 52 week high of $14.36. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.37. The stock has a market cap of $252.76 million, a PE ratio of 70.58 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Insider Transactions at Potbelly

In related news, major shareholder Nierenberg Investment Manageme bought 45,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.48 per share, with a total value of $296,602.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,546,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,019,447.28. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 9.10% 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.