El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

LOCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson raised their price target on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Friday, March 13th.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.82 on Monday. El Pollo Loco has a one year low of $8.98 and a one year high of $15.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.89 million, a P/E ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 0.81.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 5.87%.The firm had revenue of $126.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.02 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

El Pollo Loco announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in El Pollo Loco by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 247,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 33,195 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 74.2% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 58,509 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 24,923 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 110,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 203.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 635,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,808,000 after acquiring an additional 426,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in El Pollo Loco in the 1st quarter worth approximately $88,000. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ: LOCO) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style fire-grilled chicken and complementary menu offerings. The company’s signature product is its marinated, flame-grilled chicken, which is prepared in an open-flame rotisserie and served in a variety of formats including tacos, burritos, bowls and salads. In addition to its core chicken offerings, El Pollo Loco menu items feature fresh-made salsas, guacamole, sides such as charro beans and fresh tortillas, as well as a selection of beverages and desserts.

Founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, by Juan Francisco Ochoa, the concept expanded into the United States in 1980 with its first U.S.