El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Share Price Passes Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCOGet Free Report)’s stock price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.26 and traded as high as $13.62. El Pollo Loco shares last traded at $13.51, with a volume of 138,910 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LOCO shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on LOCO

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $420.16 million, a PE ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCOGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari bought 43,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.59 per share, with a total value of $586,557.99. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 364,731 shares in the company, valued at $4,956,694.29. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LOCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in El Pollo Loco by 5.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,323,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,890,000 after purchasing an additional 67,368 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 197.2% during the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 491,244 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 325,963 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter worth approximately $4,407,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 217,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 72,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 212,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About El Pollo Loco

(Get Free Report)

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.

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