Short Interest in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Rises By 27.3%

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a growth of 27.3% from the October 15th total of 1,500,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 608,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Denny’s Price Performance

DENN stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $6.49. 399,389 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 583,539. The company has a market cap of $333.13 million, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.78. Denny’s has a one year low of $5.37 and a one year high of $11.16.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 48.64% and a net margin of 3.90%. The firm had revenue of $111.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. Denny’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 73.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,381,120 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,908,000 after purchasing an additional 583,660 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,634,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $55,693,000 after purchasing an additional 558,964 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Denny’s by 1,487.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 531,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,774,000 after acquiring an additional 498,051 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter valued at about $1,387,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 14.1% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,827 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,938,000 after purchasing an additional 155,100 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DENN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised shares of Denny’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $7.00 to $7.50 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Denny’s from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Denny’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.70.

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.