El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

by · The Markets Daily

StockNews.com lowered shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on LOCO. Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Monday, March 10th.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of LOCO stock opened at $10.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $299.26 million, a P/E ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 1.35. El Pollo Loco has a twelve month low of $8.17 and a twelve month high of $14.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.24 and a 200 day moving average of $12.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $114.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 5.11%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 372.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 70,409 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 55,510 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 453,422 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,232,000 after buying an additional 159,000 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 89.6% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 84,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 39,824 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 22.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 411,298 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,635,000 after buying an additional 75,542 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 17,165.8% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 27,798 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 27,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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