Truist Financial Increases El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Price Target to $12.00

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 19.88% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th.

El Pollo Loco Price Performance

LOCO stock opened at $10.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.83. El Pollo Loco has a 12 month low of $8.11 and a 12 month high of $11.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $312.11 million, a P/E ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.44.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $116.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.09 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.64% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that El Pollo Loco will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LOCO. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,360,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,820,000 after acquiring an additional 20,907 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,746,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 33.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 541,441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,846,000 after purchasing an additional 134,673 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 355,759 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,138,000 after buying an additional 93,476 shares during the period. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. raised its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 215,025 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. 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.