Bailard Inc. Purchases New Position in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. $LOCO

Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 22,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000. Bailard Inc. owned about 0.08% of El Pollo Loco as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,229 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 27.3% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,722 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter valued at $105,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the second quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 9.8% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of LOCO stock opened at $10.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $316.57 million, a P/E ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $9.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.19. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.29 and a twelve month high of $13.14.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.15% and a net margin of 5.39%.The business had revenue of $121.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $123.57 million. Equities analysts forecast 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.