Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Shares Purchased by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 128.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 405,156 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 227,544 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.79% of Denny’s worth $2,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP raised its position in Denny’s by 178.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 6,163 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. RPO LLC bought a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Denny’s during the 4th quarter worth $120,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in Denny’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $121,000. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Denny’s news, EVP Stephen C. Dunn bought 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought 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 owns 113,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $577,423.28. This trade represents a 9.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,094.78. The trade was a 5.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of DENN stock opened at $3.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.70 and a 200-day moving average of $5.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.63. Denny’s Co. has a 12-month low of $2.85 and a 12-month high of $7.78.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The restaurant operator reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08. Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 50.01% and a net margin of 4.77%. The firm had revenue of $111.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DENN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Denny’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.46.

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.