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

Boston Partners increased its position in Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 2,820.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,665,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,608,854 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 3.25% of Denny’s worth $10,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 19.7% in 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Denny’s by 244.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 75,797 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53,763 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Denny’s by 342.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 82,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 63,668 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Denny’s by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,180,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,618,000 after buying an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter worth about $83,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DENN shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler cut their target price 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 lowered shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.75.

Denny’s Trading Up 2.0 %

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

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Denny’s 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.