Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,720,000 shares, a drop of 7.5% from the July 15th total of 1,860,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 672,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Denny’s

In other news, Director Brenda J. Lauderback sold 11,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total value of $82,027.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,388.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Brenda J. Lauderback sold 11,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total value of $82,027.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,388.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jay C. Gilmore bought 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $6.51 per share, with a total value of $78,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 121,227 shares in the company, valued at $789,187.77. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Denny’s

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Denny’s by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,335,391 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,885,000 after acquiring an additional 89,465 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Denny’s by 15.3% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,103,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,889,000 after purchasing an additional 146,658 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $193,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 56.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,850 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 44,163 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 222,943 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 96,002 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Price Performance

NASDAQ:DENN opened at $6.29 on Tuesday. Denny’s has a 12 month low of $5.59 and a 12 month high of $11.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.20 million, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.91.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $115.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.98 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 4.19% and a negative return on equity of 57.37%. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Denny’s will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DENN shares. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Denny’s from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Denny’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Denny’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.40.

About Denny’s

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.