El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. $LOCO Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 648.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 152,767 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,351 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in El Pollo Loco were worth $2,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 571,296 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after buying an additional 211,900 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 11,403.7% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 115,037 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after buying an additional 114,037 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of El Pollo Loco by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 2,214 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of El Pollo Loco during the 4th quarter worth about $360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of LOCO opened at $16.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.69. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $8.98 and a one year high of $17.00. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 0.81.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 5.87%.The company had revenue of $126.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.02 million. Equities research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

El Pollo Loco announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LOCO. DA Davidson raised their target price on El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Benchmark boosted their price objective 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. Truist Financial upped their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at El Pollo Loco

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total value of $1,658,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,004,000. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 222,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,715,166 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.