El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

Separately, Truist Financial boosted 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 Trading Down 1.0 %

LOCO stock opened at $12.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $386.23 million, a PE ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 1.50. El Pollo Loco has a one year low of $8.17 and a one year high of $14.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $13.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.31.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The company 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 10.34%. 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 firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 62,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.47 per share, with a total value of $777,654.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 87,362 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,404.14. This represents a 200.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LOCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,323,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,890,000 after purchasing an additional 67,368 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 197.2% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,407,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 217,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 72,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 212,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. 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.