Insider Buying: Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) CEO Purchases 9,700 Shares of Stock

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) CEO Kelli Valade bought 9,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.13 per share, for a total transaction of $49,761.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,094.78. The trade was a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DENN opened at $5.21 on Wednesday. Denny’s Co. has a 12 month low of $4.82 and a 12 month high of $9.52. The stock has a market cap of $267.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 2.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.22.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 50.01% and a net margin of 4.77%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DENN shares. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denny’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Denny’s by 178.4% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Denny’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,000. RPO LLC acquired a new position in Denny’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Denny’s by 95.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 5,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Denny’s in the third quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

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.