El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Stock Down 2.1 %

LOCO stock opened at $11.96 on Thursday. El Pollo Loco has a twelve month low of $8.15 and a twelve month high of $14.25. The company has a market cap of $357.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $13.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.76.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $120.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.03 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 43,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.59 per share, with a total value of $586,557.99. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 364,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,956,694.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the second quarter worth about $30,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in El Pollo Loco during the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 1st quarter worth $106,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the 3rd quarter valued at $120,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.