El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

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

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

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of LOCO opened at $12.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $365.72 million, a PE ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.49. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.71. El Pollo Loco has a 52-week low of $8.15 and a 52-week high of $14.25.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The business had revenue of $120.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at El Pollo Loco

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 21,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,834.33. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have acquired 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in El Pollo Loco in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the first quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $120,000. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.