El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Shares Cross Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) shares crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.26 and traded as high as $13.62. El Pollo Loco shares last traded at $13.51, with a volume of 138,910 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LOCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded El Pollo Loco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price target on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 0.1 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $13.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $427.31 million, a P/E ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 1.49.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 5.76%. The business had revenue of $122.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari purchased 43,161 shares of El Pollo Loco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.59 per share, for a total transaction of $586,557.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 364,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,956,694.29. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders bought 189,177 shares of company stock worth $2,483,158 in the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the second quarter worth about $30,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the first quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of El Pollo Loco in the third quarter worth approximately $120,000. 81.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.