Short Interest in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Drops By 13.3%

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,738,144 shares, a decline of 13.3% from the March 15th total of 2,005,775 shares. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 494,086 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LOCO shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial raised their price target on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. DA Davidson set a $11.00 price target on El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.16. The company has a market capitalization of $417.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.88. El Pollo Loco has a fifty-two week low of $8.29 and a fifty-two week high of $14.50.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $123.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.18 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 5.40%. On average, analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,580,000 after acquiring an additional 16,867 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,037,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,850,000 after acquiring an additional 502,378 shares during the period. Fund 1 Investments LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 193.4% during the fourth quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 745,140 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,794,000 after acquiring an additional 491,184 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 741,793 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,195,000 after acquiring an additional 15,400 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 197.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 680,391 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,008,000 after acquiring an additional 451,575 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ: LOCO) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style fire-grilled chicken and complementary menu offerings. The company’s signature product is its marinated, flame-grilled chicken, which is prepared in an open-flame rotisserie and served in a variety of formats including tacos, burritos, bowls and salads. In addition to its core chicken offerings, El Pollo Loco menu items feature fresh-made salsas, guacamole, sides such as charro beans and fresh tortillas, as well as a selection of beverages and desserts.

Founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, by Juan Francisco Ochoa, the concept expanded into the United States in 1980 with its first U.S.