Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 17,700 Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 319,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 17,700 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in El Pollo Loco were worth $3,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LOCO. CWM LLC increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the first quarter valued at about $106,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco during the first quarter worth about $182,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the first quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new position in El Pollo Loco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,000. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LOCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Truist Financial upped 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 report on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at El Pollo Loco

In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 21,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.13 per share, for a total transaction of $279,997.25. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 159,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,834.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 0.8 %

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $417.98 million, a P/E ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 1.50. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.11 and a 52 week high of $14.25.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 5.76%. The business had revenue of $122.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

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.