El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Share Price Passes Above Fifty Day Moving Average of $10.41

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)’s share price crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.41 and traded as high as $11.07. El Pollo Loco shares last traded at $10.86, with a volume of 171,460 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LOCO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on El Pollo Loco from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $337.75 million, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $116.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.09 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.64% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fund 1 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,746,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 197.2% in the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 491,244 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 325,963 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 541,441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,846,000 after buying an additional 134,673 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,162,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 321.8% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 145,498 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 111,000 shares in the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is currently 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.