Kelli Valade Purchases 9,700 Shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Stock

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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. This trade represents a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Denny’s Price Performance

NASDAQ:DENN opened at $5.21 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.22. Denny’s Co. has a 12 month low of $4.82 and a 12 month high of $9.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.42 million, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 2.02.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.77% and a negative return on equity of 50.01%. Equities analysts anticipate that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DENN. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reduced their price target on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup cut their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s in the third quarter valued at about $120,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Denny’s by 6.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 37,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the third quarter valued at about $217,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the third quarter valued at about $428,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Denny’s by 22.9% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 93,440 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 17,430 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.