Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) CEO Acquires $49,761.00 in Stock

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $5.13 per share, for a total transaction of $49,761.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at $989,094.78. This represents a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DENN opened at $5.08 on Thursday. Denny’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $4.82 and a fifty-two week high of $9.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.75 million, a PE ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 2.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.22.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DENN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reduced their price target on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denny’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP increased its position in Denny’s by 178.4% during 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 period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Denny’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,000. RPO LLC acquired a new position in Denny’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Denny’s by 95.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 5,970 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Denny’s during the third quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Company Profile

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.