El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Major Shareholder Sardar Biglari Buys 21,325 Shares

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari acquired 21,325 shares of El Pollo Loco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.13 per share, for a total transaction of $279,997.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 159,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,834.33. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Sardar Biglari also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Sardar Biglari acquired 43,161 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.59 per share, for a total transaction of $586,557.99.
• On Monday, August 19th, Sardar Biglari acquired 62,329 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.46 per share, for a total transaction of $838,948.34.
• On Wednesday, August 14th, Sardar Biglari acquired 62,362 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.47 per share, for a total transaction of $777,654.14.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

LOCO stock opened at $13.66 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $424.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.48. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.11 and a 52-week high of $13.87.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $120.39 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 5.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in El Pollo Loco during the fourth quarter worth $112,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 6,176 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 6,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,360,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,820,000 after buying an additional 20,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 10th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd.

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.