El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

LOCO has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 20.5% in the third quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 359,396 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,486,000 after acquiring an additional 61,200 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 236.1% during the third quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 49,539 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 34,800 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 648.3% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 152,767 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,117,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the fourth quarter worth $945,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the fourth quarter worth $107,000. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $13.82 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.10. El Pollo Loco has a one year low of $8.98 and a one year high of $15.90.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $126.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.02 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 11.04%. Sell-side analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

El Pollo Loco declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 28th that allows the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.