El Pollo Loco Q3 EPS Estimate Decreased by William Blair

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) – William Blair lowered their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note issued on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.17 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.18. The consensus estimate for El Pollo Loco’s current full-year earnings is $0.80 per share.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

El Pollo Loco Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $12.61 on Friday. El Pollo Loco has a 52-week low of $8.11 and a 52-week high of $14.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.46 and a 200 day moving average of $11.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $392.17 million, a PE ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LOCO. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter worth approximately $106,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 21,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.13 per share, for a total transaction of $279,997.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,241 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,834.33. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.