Short Interest in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Grows By 34.9%

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,210,000 shares, a growth of 34.9% from the January 31st total of 2,380,000 shares. Currently, 6.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DENN. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.75.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Denny’s stock opened at $4.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $234.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 2.02. Denny’s has a 1 year low of $4.51 and a 1 year high of $9.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $5.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.20.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 50.01% and a net margin of 4.77%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Denny’s news, CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.13 per share, with a total value of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,094.78. This represents a 5.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $49,860.20. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 113,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $577,423.28. The trade was a 9.45 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. Quarry LP grew its position in Denny’s by 178.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Denny’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. RPO LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Denny’s by 95.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

About Denny’s

Denny’s Corp. engages in the operation of restaurants and franchised, and licensed restaurants. It operates through the Denny’s and Other segments. The Denny’s segment includes the results of all company and franchised and licensed Denny’s restaurants. The Other segment refers to the results of all company and franchise restaurants.