El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Major Shareholder Sardar Biglari Buys 62,362 Shares

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 62,362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.47 per share, for a total transaction of $777,654.14. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 87,362 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,404.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Sardar Biglari also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Sardar Biglari bought 43,161 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $13.59 per share, for a total transaction of $586,557.99.
• On Monday, August 19th, Sardar Biglari purchased 62,329 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $13.46 per share, with a total value of $838,948.34.
• On Friday, August 16th, Sardar Biglari bought 21,325 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.13 per share, with a total value of $279,997.25.

El Pollo Loco Trading Up 0.5 %

LOCO stock opened at $13.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $424.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $11.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.32. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.11 and a fifty-two week high of $13.87.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 10th. Truist Financial increased 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LOCO. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 34.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 6,176 shares during the period. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter valued at about $106,000. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.