Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 67,368 Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,323,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,368 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in El Pollo Loco were worth $12,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter valued at about $112,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 285.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 6,176 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 6,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,360,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,820,000 after acquiring an additional 20,907 shares in the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on LOCO shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

Shares of LOCO opened at $12.56 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.01. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.11 and a fifty-two week high of $12.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.62 million, a PE ratio of 15.51 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.36.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

El Pollo Loco Profile

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.