El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

LOCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of LOCO opened at $11.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $367.91 million, a P/E ratio of 14.60 and a beta of 1.48. El Pollo Loco has a 52 week low of $8.11 and a 52 week high of $12.60.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 5.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 285.7% in the fourth 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. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in El Pollo Loco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.