Quest Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO)

Quest Partners LLC lessened its holdings in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 63.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,199 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 32,951 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of El Pollo Loco worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Rodgers Brothers Inc. raised its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 212,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 6,159 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the 1st quarter valued at $106,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 126,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 10,917 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LOCO shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.60 on Monday. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.11 and a 12-month high of $14.25. The company has a market capitalization of $407.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.71.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari acquired 21,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.13 per share, with a total value of $279,997.25. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,241 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,834.33. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.90% 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.