Insider Selling: El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Major Shareholder Sells $1,255,500.00 in Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.74, for a total value of $1,255,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 3,560,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,601,999.96. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

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

• On Thursday, July 2nd, Sardar Biglari sold 9,525 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.92, for a total transaction of $161,163.00.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.27, for a total transaction of $2,286,910.67.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, Sardar Biglari sold 22,600 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.91, for a total transaction of $382,166.00.
• On Monday, June 29th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total transaction of $1,658,000.00.
• On Friday, June 26th, Sardar Biglari sold 100,000 shares of El Pollo Loco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.75, for a total transaction of $1,675,000.00.

El Pollo Loco Trading Up 0.6%

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $16.55 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.18 and its 200-day moving average is $13.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.34. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.98 and a 1 year high of $17.40. The company has a market cap of $503.95 million, a P/E ratio of 16.89 and a beta of 0.78.

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

El Pollo Loco declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 28th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.8% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 110,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in El Pollo Loco by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in El Pollo Loco by 85.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in El Pollo Loco by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 20,413 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in El Pollo Loco by 6.7% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LOCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised El Pollo Loco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Benchmark raised their price target on El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded El Pollo Loco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Freedom Capital raised El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” 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.