Sardar Biglari Sells 6,611 Shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 6,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.71, for a total transaction of $110,469.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,949,973.45. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

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

• On Thursday, July 30th, Sardar Biglari sold 546 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total value of $9,118.20.
• On Friday, July 17th, Sardar Biglari sold 11,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.71, for a total value of $183,810.00.
• On Monday, July 13th, Sardar Biglari sold 75,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.74, for a total transaction of $1,255,500.00.
• On Thursday, July 2nd, Sardar Biglari sold 9,525 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.92, for a total transaction of $161,163.00.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was 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 stock was 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 transaction of $1,658,000.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.75, for a total transaction of $1,675,000.00.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:LOCO opened at $16.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $501.21 million, a PE ratio of 16.80 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.32. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.98 and a 12 month high of $17.40. The business’s 50-day moving average is $15.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.56.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released 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. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 5.87%.The firm had revenue of $126.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.02 million. Research analysts predict that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

El Pollo Loco declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 97.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 301,505 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,114,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 15.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 247,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,425,000 after buying an additional 33,195 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 74.2% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 58,509 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 24,923 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.8% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 110,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,534,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 203.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 635,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,808,000 after acquiring an additional 426,320 shares during the period. 81.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on LOCO. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital raised El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.88.

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.