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

Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

A number of research firms have commented on LOCO. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $400.11 million, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.65. El Pollo Loco has a fifty-two week low of $8.87 and a fifty-two week high of $15.90.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its 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 net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm had revenue of $126.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.02 million. Sell-side analysts predict that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,013,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,905,000 after acquiring an additional 12,072 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,580,000 after purchasing an additional 16,867 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,037,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,850,000 after purchasing an additional 502,378 shares in the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 193.4% during the fourth quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 745,140 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,794,000 after purchasing an additional 491,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 741,793 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,195,000 after purchasing an additional 15,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

About El Pollo Loco

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.