El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Receives $14.88 Average PT from Analysts

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Benchmark boosted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

Shares of LOCO opened at $15.64 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $476.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.81. El Pollo Loco has a 1 year low of $8.98 and a 1 year high of $15.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $126.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.02 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 5.87%. As a group, equities analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

El Pollo Loco declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,013,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,905,000 after purchasing an additional 12,072 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,580,000 after purchasing an additional 16,867 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,037,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,850,000 after purchasing an additional 502,378 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 193.4% during the 4th quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 745,140 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,794,000 after purchasing an additional 491,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 741,793 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,195,000 after purchasing an additional 15,400 shares during the last quarter. 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.