El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Major Shareholder Sells $161,163.00 in Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 9,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.92, for a total value of $161,163.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,635,454 shares in the company, valued at $61,511,881.68. This represents a 0.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Sardar Biglari also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, July 1st, Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.27, for a total value of $2,286,910.67.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, Sardar Biglari sold 22,600 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.91, for a total value of $382,166.00.
• On Monday, June 29th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total value of $1,658,000.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.75, for a total value of $1,675,000.00.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $16.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $498.77 million, a P/E ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.81 and a 200-day moving average of $12.90. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.98 and a 1 year high of $17.40.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The business had revenue of $126.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.02 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

El Pollo Loco declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised 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 buying an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in El Pollo Loco by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 1st quarter worth approximately $88,000. Finally, Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $97,000. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LOCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, El Pollo Loco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.88.

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.