Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Short Interest Update

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, an increase of 27.3% from the October 15th total of 1,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 608,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Denny’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Benchmark cut their price target on Denny’s from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Denny’s from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DENN. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Denny’s by 73.2% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,381,120 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,908,000 after purchasing an additional 583,660 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 6.9% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,634,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,693,000 after purchasing an additional 558,964 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Denny’s by 1,487.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 531,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,774,000 after purchasing an additional 498,051 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Denny’s during the 3rd quarter worth $1,387,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Denny’s by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,827 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,938,000 after acquiring an additional 155,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Denny’s stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.49. 399,389 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 583,539. Denny’s has a 12-month low of $5.37 and a 12-month high of $11.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.45 and a 200 day moving average of $6.78. The firm has a market cap of $333.13 million, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.02.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $111.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.46 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 3.90% and a negative return on equity of 48.64%. Denny’s’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

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.