Sardar Biglari Purchases 21,325 Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 21,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.13 per share, with a total value of $279,997.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 159,241 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,834.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Sardar Biglari also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Sardar Biglari purchased 43,161 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.59 per share, for a total transaction of $586,557.99.
• On Monday, August 19th, Sardar Biglari acquired 62,329 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.46 per share, with a total value of $838,948.34.
• On Wednesday, August 14th, Sardar Biglari bought 62,362 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.47 per share, for a total transaction of $777,654.14.

El Pollo Loco Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LOCO stock opened at $13.76 on Thursday. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.11 and a 1-year high of $14.25. The firm has a market cap of $427.78 million, a PE ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 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 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% during 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 period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 6,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the first quarter worth about $106,000. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LOCO. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. StockNews.com cut El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

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.