Boston Partners Buys 1,608,854 Shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

Boston Partners lifted its stake in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 2,820.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,665,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,608,854 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Denny’s were worth $10,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Denny’s in the third quarter worth about $193,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $83,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Denny’s by 95.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Denny’s by 73.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,381,120 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,908,000 after purchasing an additional 583,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,175,986 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ DENN opened at $4.02 on Friday. Denny’s Co. has a 12-month low of $3.80 and a 12-month high of $9.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 2.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.37 and a 200 day moving average of $6.00.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last posted 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 negative return on equity of 50.01% and a net margin of 4.77%. Sell-side analysts predict that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In other news, CEO Kelli Valade acquired 9,700 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,094.78. This trade represents a 5.30 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn acquired 9,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $49,860.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,423.28. This trade represents a 9.45 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457 over the last quarter. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.