El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of 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 Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LOCO opened at $12.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. El Pollo Loco has a 52-week low of $8.11 and a 52-week high of $14.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $13.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.58. The stock has a market cap of $394.04 million, a P/E ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 1.49.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at El Pollo Loco

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari acquired 62,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.47 per share, for a total transaction of $777,654.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 87,362 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,404.14. This represents a 200.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders bought a total of 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LOCO. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at $4,407,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 197.2% in the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 491,244 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 325,963 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at $1,735,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 384.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 175,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 139,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 321.8% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 145,498 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 111,000 shares in the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is owned by 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.