Short Interest in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Decreases By 6.7%

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the March 15th total of 2,390,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 488,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Denny’s news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total value of $327,070.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 740,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 43.6% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 815,485 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,907,000 after acquiring an additional 247,470 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter valued at about $495,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 431,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,697,000 after acquiring an additional 211,000 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 17.4% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,545,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,094,000 after acquiring an additional 228,709 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,186 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DENN. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Denny’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.92.

Denny’s Stock Performance

DENN traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.29. 131,376 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,482. The stock has a market cap of $440.20 million, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.93. Denny’s has a twelve month low of $8.11 and a twelve month high of $12.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.54.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 70.78% and a net margin of 4.30%. The firm had revenue of $115.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. Denny’s’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Denny’s Company Profile

Denny's Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates franchised full-service restaurant chains under the Denny's and Keke's Breakfast Cafe brands in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc and changed its name to Denny's Corporation in July 2002.