El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

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

LOCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ LOCO opened at $13.14 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $13.37 and its 200-day moving average is $11.65. The stock has a market cap of $400.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.79. El Pollo Loco has a twelve month low of $8.87 and a twelve month high of $15.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 85.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the 1st quarter valued at $88,000. Finally, Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the 3rd quarter valued at $97,000. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About El Pollo Loco

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.