El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Share Price Breaks Above 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.00 and traded as high as $15.15. El Pollo Loco shares last traded at $15.01, with a volume of 266,565 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price target on El Pollo Loco from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Freedom Capital upgraded El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.30.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 2.7%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $456.75 million, a P/E ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 0.77.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $129.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $130.29 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 10.87%. Equities research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 25,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.50, for a total transaction of $421,674.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,513,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,971,182.50. This trade represents a 0.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 126,656 shares of company stock worth $2,127,040. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LOCO. Biglari Capital CORP. bought a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the second quarter worth $64,064,704. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at $41,716,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,013,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,905,000 after buying an additional 12,072 shares during the last quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at about $17,535,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 203.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 635,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,808,000 after buying an additional 426,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LOCO) operates and franchises quick-service restaurants specializing in Mexican-inspired food and citrus-marinated, fire-grilled chicken. Its menu includes chicken meals, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, salads, bowls and family meals, along with a variety of sides, beverages and desserts.

The company was founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, and expanded into the United States in 1980 with its first restaurant in Los Angeles. El Pollo Loco primarily serves customers through restaurants in the western and southwestern United States, particularly in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Texas.