El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Separately, Truist Financial boosted their price objective 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.

El Pollo Loco Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LOCO opened at $13.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.93. El Pollo Loco has a 1-year low of $8.17 and a 1-year high of $14.25. The company has a market cap of $392.81 million, a PE ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 1.50.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $120.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.03 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 5.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 43,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.59 per share, for a total transaction of $586,557.99. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 364,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,956,694.29. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders acquired 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. Quarry LP bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the second quarter worth $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $120,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter worth approximately $106,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company 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.