William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $13.68 Million Stock Holdings in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. $LOCO

William Blair Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,242,563 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 101,788 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in El Pollo Loco were worth $13,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LOCO. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in El Pollo Loco by 31.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,229 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in El Pollo Loco by 27.3% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,722 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the first quarter worth about $105,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in El Pollo Loco by 9.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. 81.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

El Pollo Loco Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ LOCO opened at $9.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $282 million, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.05. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $8.29 and a one year high of $13.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $125.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.24 million. El Pollo Loco had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 5.15%.El Pollo Loco’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

El Pollo Loco Profile

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.