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

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) saw a large 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. Approximately 6.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Denny’s

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DENN. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 37,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter worth $217,000. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter worth $180,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 2.2% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 916,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,911,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter valued at $1,387,000. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Shares of DENN stock opened at $4.21 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.19. The stock has a market cap of $217.28 million, a PE ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 2.08. Denny’s has a 1 year low of $4.13 and a 1 year high of $9.53.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush reduced their price target on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

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.