Biglari Sardar purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 489,247 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $8,297,629. El Pollo Loco accounts for about 0.0% of Biglari Sardar's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Biglari Sardar owned about 1.61% of El Pollo Loco as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Biglari Capital CORP. acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter worth $64,064,704. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in El Pollo Loco during the second quarter valued at about $41,716,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,013,373 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $27,905,000 after buying an additional 12,072 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,032 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $13,580,000 after buying an additional 16,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,037,293 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $10,850,000 after buying an additional 502,378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company's stock.
El Pollo Loco Trading Up 0.7%
Shares of NASDAQ LOCO opened at $15.31 on Friday. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.98 and a 12 month high of $17.40. The company has a market cap of $465.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.24.
El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $129.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.29 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 6.96%. Sell-side analysts predict that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.
El Pollo Loco declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.27, for a total transaction of $2,286,910.67. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,644,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62,948,787.33. The trade was a 3.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 558,803 shares of company stock worth $9,427,504 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages recently weighed in on LOCO. Weiss Ratings raised El Pollo Loco from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Benchmark raised their target price on El Pollo Loco from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Freedom Capital raised El Pollo Loco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. DA Davidson raised their target price on El Pollo Loco from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut El Pollo Loco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $16.13.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on LOCO
El Pollo Loco Company Profile
(
Free Report)
El Pollo Loco NASDAQ: LOCO is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style fire-grilled chicken and complementary menu offerings. The company's signature product is its marinated, flame-grilled chicken, which is prepared in an open-flame rotisserie and served in a variety of formats including tacos, burritos, bowls and salads. In addition to its core chicken offerings, El Pollo Loco menu items feature fresh-made salsas, guacamole, sides such as charro beans and fresh tortillas, as well as a selection of beverages and desserts.
Founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, by Juan Francisco Ochoa, the concept expanded into the United States in 1980 with its first U.S.
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