Ancora Advisors LLC Sells 457,947 Shares of Denny's Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

Ancora Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Denny's Co. (NASDAQ:DENN - Free Report) by 52.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 422,933 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 457,947 shares during the quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.82% of Denny's worth $2,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in Denny's by 178.4% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Denny's in the 4th quarter worth about $120,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Denny's in the 4th quarter valued at about $121,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Denny's by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Denny's by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 31,124 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 6,958 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Denny's Stock Up 2.5 %

DENN stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $4.47. 1,280,475 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 918,360. Denny's Co. has a 52 week low of $2.85 and a 52 week high of $8.30. The company has a market cap of $229.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 1.63. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $3.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.27.

Denny's (NASDAQ:DENN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The restaurant operator reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.08. The company had revenue of $111.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.11 million. Denny's had a net margin of 4.77% and a negative return on equity of 50.01%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Denny's Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Denny's news, CEO Kelli Valade acquired 9,700 shares of Denny's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 trade represents a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of Denny's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.08 per share, with a total value of $49,860.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 113,666 shares of the company's stock, valued at $577,423.28. This trade represents a 9.45 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DENN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Denny's from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Denny's from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Denny's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Denny's from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $7.46.

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.