El Pollo Loco’s (LOCO) Hold Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their hold rating on shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of El Pollo Loco from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded El Pollo Loco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $10.40 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.06. El Pollo Loco has a 12 month low of $8.11 and a 12 month high of $11.99. The company has a market capitalization of $323.44 million, a PE ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.08. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 5.64%. The company had revenue of $116.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that El Pollo Loco will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 285.7% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 6,176 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 1,074.7% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in El Pollo Loco during the third quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter worth approximately $106,000. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About El Pollo Loco

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.