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

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, 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 twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

LOCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Friday, March 13th. Benchmark raised their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 110,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 85.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 20,413 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LOCO opened at $13.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $416.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. El Pollo Loco has a 1-year low of $8.87 and a 1-year high of $15.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.51 and its 200 day moving average is $11.73.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $126.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.02 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 5.87%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.