Short Interest in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Drops By 6.7%

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the March 15th total of 2,390,000 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 488,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reduced their price target on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Denny’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.92.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DENN opened at $8.13 on Thursday. Denny’s has a 1 year low of $8.11 and a 1 year high of $12.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $431.70 million, a PE ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.93. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.53.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $115.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.67 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 4.30% and a negative return on equity of 70.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In related news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total value of $327,070.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 740,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,850,790.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Denny’s

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 278,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 28,502 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Denny’s by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 78,687 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 281.8% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,028 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 59,804 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Denny’s by 76.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 33,441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 14,436 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 199.2% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 78,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $850,000 after purchasing an additional 52,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

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.