Insider Selling: El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Major Shareholder Sells 22,600 Shares

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 22,600 shares of El Pollo Loco stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.91, for a total value of $382,166.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,777,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,875,834. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Major 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 Monday, June 29th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total value of $1,658,000.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.75, for a total value of $1,675,000.00.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 2.6%

LOCO traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.96. 299,164 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 336,032. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.43 million, a PE ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $14.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.69. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.98 and a 1 year high of $17.00.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $126.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.02 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 11.04%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

El Pollo Loco declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On El Pollo Loco

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCO. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 worth $27,905,000 after buying an additional 12,072 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in El Pollo Loco by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,580,000 after acquiring an additional 16,867 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 93.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 502,378 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC boosted its stake in El Pollo Loco by 193.4% in the fourth quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 745,140 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,794,000 after acquiring an additional 491,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 741,793 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,195,000 after purchasing an additional 15,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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, March 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. DA Davidson upped their target price on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Benchmark increased their price target on El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.88.

About El Pollo Loco

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.