El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Now Covered by Craig Hallum

Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $18.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a report on Monday.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of El Pollo Loco stock opened at $10.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.31. El Pollo Loco has a 52-week low of $8.17 and a 52-week high of $14.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $11.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.42.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $114.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 million. Equities research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,533,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,695,000 after buying an additional 266,908 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,454 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,230,000 after buying an additional 34,399 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 618,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,141,000 after buying an additional 40,012 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 593,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,130,000 after buying an additional 14,692 shares during the period. Finally, Biglari Sardar lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 307.7% during the third quarter. Biglari Sardar now owns 489,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,703,000 after buying an additional 369,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

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.