First Eagle Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,665,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 274,459 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Denny’s were worth $10,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Denny’s by 244.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 75,797 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53,763 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Denny’s by 342.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 82,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 63,668 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Denny’s by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,180,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s in the third quarter worth $83,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Denny’s by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,175,986 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,142 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DENN shares. Citigroup dropped 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. StockNews.com cut Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Oppenheimer dropped 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, Wedbush dropped 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.75.

Denny’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DENN opened at $3.93 on Friday. Denny’s Co. has a 52-week low of $3.84 and a 52-week high of $9.25. The firm has a market cap of $202.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 2.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $5.54 and its 200 day moving average is $6.07.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.