Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Short Interest Down 5.1% in June

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, a decline of 5.1% from the May 31st total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 583,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Denny’s Trading Up 1.3 %

DENN opened at $6.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $352.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 2.01. Denny’s has a 12 month low of $6.33 and a 12 month high of $12.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.86.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 63.27% and a net margin of 5.27%. The company had revenue of $109.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In related news, CAO Jay C. Gilmore bought 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $6.51 per share, for a total transaction of $78,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now owns 121,227 shares in the company, valued at $789,187.77. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Denny’s news, CAO Jay C. Gilmore purchased 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.51 per share, with a total value of $78,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief accounting officer now owns 121,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,187.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert P. Verostek purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $6.53 per share, with a total value of $65,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,720. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Denny’s by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 2,536 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Denny’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Denny’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $136,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Denny’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $150,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in Denny’s by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,186 shares during the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DENN shares. Wedbush decreased their target price on Denny’s from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Denny’s in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.42.

Denny’s Company Profile

Denny's Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates franchised full-service restaurant chains under the Denny's and Keke's Breakfast Cafe brands in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc and changed its name to Denny's Corporation in July 2002.