El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.1250.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LOCO. Benchmark increased their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Freedom Capital raised shares of El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of El Pollo Loco from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th.

El Pollo Loco Stock Down 0.4%

LOCO opened at $15.62 on Friday. El Pollo Loco has a 12 month low of $8.98 and a 12 month high of $17.40. The company has a market cap of $475.32 million, a PE ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.11 and a 200 day moving average of $14.20.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 6.96%.The firm had revenue of $129.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.29 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

El Pollo Loco announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.27, for a total transaction of $2,286,910.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,644,979 shares in the company, valued at $62,948,787.33. The trade was a 3.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 558,803 shares of company stock valued at $9,427,504. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LOCO. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in El Pollo Loco during the second quarter worth about $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of 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 shares of El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco during the first quarter worth about $88,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

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.