Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 55,510 Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 372.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 70,409 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,510 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.24% of El Pollo Loco worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LOCO. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in El Pollo Loco by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,094 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 7.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 15,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ LOCO opened at $11.59 on Friday. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $8.17 and a one year high of $14.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $346.99 million, a P/E ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 1.45.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $120.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.03 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.34%. El Pollo Loco’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

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.