El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO – Get Rating) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, El Pollo Loco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.67.

Shares of El Pollo Loco stock opened at $10.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.43 and a 200 day moving average of $13.04. The firm has a market cap of $393.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27 and a beta of 1.38. El Pollo Loco has a 1 year low of $10.28 and a 1 year high of $19.25.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The restaurant operator reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.07. The company had revenue of $110.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.69 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 10.60%. El Pollo Loco’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.67 EPS for the current year.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 27,501 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 132,939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,247,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.5% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 364,581 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,189,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 45,748 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $649,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 57,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 2,466 shares during the last quarter. 45.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile (Get Rating)

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. As of December 29, 2021, the company operated 480 restaurants comprising 189 company-operated and 291 franchised restaurants located in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana.

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