Samuel N. Borgese Sells 4,643 Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Director Samuel N. Borgese sold 4,643 shares of El Pollo Loco stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.30, for a total value of $43,179.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,264.60. This represents a 11.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

Shares of LOCO stock traded down $0.02 on Monday, hitting $9.28. 486,094 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 269,281. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.19 and a 200 day moving average of $12.01. The stock has a market cap of $276.33 million, a P/E ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.29. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.17 and a 12 month high of $14.25.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $17,695,000 after buying an additional 266,908 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 332.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 289,739 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,344,000 after acquiring an additional 222,704 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 392.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 228,816 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after acquiring an additional 182,366 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 453,422 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,232,000 after acquiring an additional 159,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the 4th quarter worth about $1,146,000. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

About El Pollo Loco

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.