Intech Investment Management LLC Has $144,000 Stock Position in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 84.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 10,850 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Denny’s were worth $144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 583,660 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Denny’s by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,665,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,077,000 after acquiring an additional 274,459 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in Denny’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,300,000. Skylands Capital LLC increased its stake in Denny’s by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 570,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after purchasing an additional 126,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in Denny’s by 588.2% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 87,470 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 74,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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 downgraded shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Denny’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

Denny’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ DENN opened at $4.00 on Friday. Denny’s Co. has a 52 week low of $3.75 and a 52 week high of $9.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 2.08.

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, equities research analysts forecast that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.13 per share, with a total value of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 192,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,094.78. This trade represents a 5.30 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $49,860.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,423.28. The trade was a 9.45 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 20,465 shares of company stock worth $104,457 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.20% 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.