El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Truist Financial boosted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $13.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.32. El Pollo Loco has a 1 year low of $8.11 and a 1 year high of $14.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $421.41 million, a PE ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.99.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at El Pollo Loco

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 21,325 shares of El Pollo Loco 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 completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 159,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,834.33. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at about $1,735,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 384.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 175,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,987,000 after buying an additional 139,375 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 49.8% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 217,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 72,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

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.