El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on LOCO. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

NASDAQ LOCO opened at $13.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.52. El Pollo Loco has a 1 year low of $8.11 and a 1 year high of $14.25. The company has a market cap of $411.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.48.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 5.76%. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 21,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.13 per share, with a total value of $279,997.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 159,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,834.33. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 34.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 1st quarter worth about $106,000. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 15,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiary, El Pollo Loco, Inc, develops, franchises, licenses, and operates quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco name. It operates and franchises restaurants located in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana. It also licenses its brand to restaurants in the Philippines.