El Pollo Loco jumps on dividend, share buyback plan

El Pollo Loco Holdings

12/10/2022 13:10

** Shares of restaurant chain El Pollo Loco Holdings
 LOCO.O  up 13.2% at $10.3 premarket, set to open at a more than
four-month high
    ** LOCO's board declares a special dividend of $1.50 per
share, payable Nov. 9 to shareholders of record at close of
business on Oct. 24 
    ** Board also approves a share repurchase program up to $20
mln worth of shares, effective immediately 
    ** Repurchase program ends on March 28, 2024
    ** Only one of five brokerages rates the stock "buy", rest
have "hold"; their median PT is $12, as per Refinitiv data 
    ** Up to Tuesday's close, stock had fallen ~36% YTD compared
with a ~23% decline in the S&P 600 Restaurants Index
 .SPSMCREST 
 (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru)
 ((Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com))