El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Price Target Raised to $16.00

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) had its price objective hoisted by Benchmark from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 14.70% from the company’s current price.

LOCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Zacks Research downgraded El Pollo Loco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Friday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, El Pollo Loco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.38.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $13.95 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $417.89 million, a P/E ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.30. El Pollo Loco has a 1 year low of $8.29 and a 1 year high of $14.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.17.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $123.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.18 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 5.40%. Sell-side analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 85.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 17.7% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 11.5% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 20,413 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 2,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.