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

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

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

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $13.78 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.75 and a 200 day moving average of $10.91. The stock has a market cap of $428.56 million, a P/E ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. El Pollo Loco has a 12 month low of $8.11 and a 12 month high of $14.25.

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. The company had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 5.76%. El Pollo Loco’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 21,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $13.13 per share, for a total transaction of $279,997.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,834.33. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 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 Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. CWM LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the first quarter valued at $106,000. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter valued at about $111,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 7.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 15,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

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.