Short Interest in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Decreases By 13.3%

Key Points

• Short interest dropped 13.3% — short interest fell to 1,738,144 shares as of March 31 from 2,005,775 on March 15; the short-interest ratio is 3.5 days and 6.0% of shares are sold short.
• Analyst consensus remains "Hold" — two analysts rate LOCO a Buy and five rate it Hold, with an average target price of $12.88; Benchmark recently upgraded to Buy with a $14 target.
• Recent results and valuation — El Pollo Loco beat EPS estimates last quarter ($0.25 vs. $0.21) on $123.5M revenue, and the stock trades around $13.74 with a $411.6M market cap and a P/E of 15.27.

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,738,144 shares, a decline of 13.3% from the March 15th total of 2,005,775 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 494,086 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LOCO shares. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Friday, March 13th. DA Davidson set a $11.00 price objective on El Pollo Loco in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Benchmark upgraded El Pollo Loco from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered El Pollo Loco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.88.

El Pollo Loco Trading Up 0.1%

LOCO stock opened at $13.74 on Friday. El Pollo Loco has a 1-year low of $8.29 and a 1-year high of $14.50. The firm has a market cap of $411.60 million, a P/E ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.88. The business's 50 day moving average is $12.38 and its 200-day moving average is $11.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $123.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.18 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 5.40%. Equities analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 85.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,862 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,277 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 2,493 shares in the last quarter. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 3rd quarter worth $97,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco during the 2nd quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company's stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

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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