Earnest Partners LLC Sells 30,812 Shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

Earnest Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 2.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,432,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 30,812 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Denny’s were worth $12,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DENN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 3.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,273,187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,724,000 after buying an additional 108,758 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Denny’s by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,093,427 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,056,000 after purchasing an additional 43,969 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Denny’s by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 98,668 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 5,645 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Denny’s by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 222,943 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 96,002 shares during the period. Finally, Skylands Capital LLC grew its holdings in Denny’s by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 99,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 5,725 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of Denny’s stock traded up $0.03 on Monday, hitting $7.48. The company had a trading volume of 560,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 550,380. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.10 million, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 2.01. Denny’s Co. has a twelve month low of $6.33 and a twelve month high of $11.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $6.99 and a 200-day moving average of $8.38.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $109.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Denny’s Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DENN shares. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $8.50 price objective on shares of Denny’s in a report on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Denny’s in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Denny’s 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.