Deutsche Bank AG Raises Stock Position in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)

Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,943 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,817 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned 0.41% of El Pollo Loco worth $1,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LOCO. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,533,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,695,000 after buying an additional 266,908 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,454 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,230,000 after buying an additional 34,399 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 618,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,141,000 after buying an additional 40,012 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,267,000 after buying an additional 45,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in El Pollo Loco by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 453,422 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,232,000 after buying an additional 159,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LOCO. Wall Street Zen cut shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

Shares of El Pollo Loco stock opened at $9.13 on Friday. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.29 and a 52-week high of $14.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.66 and a 200-day moving average of $11.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.31.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business had revenue of $119.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.20 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. El Pollo Loco’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

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.