Denny's Corporation $DENN Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in Denny's Corporation by 37.1% in the first quarter, selling 422,941 shares, which left them with 715,532 shares valued at approximately $2.6 million.
• Denny's reported $0.09 EPS for the latest quarter, missing analysts' estimates of $0.10, with total revenue of $117.66 million, slightly below the forecast of $118.14 million.
• Recent research reports have seen analysts adjusting their price targets for Denny's, with Benchmark lowering its target from $8.00 to $6.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Denny's Corporation (NASDAQ:DENN - Free Report) by 37.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 715,532 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 422,941 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 1.40% of Denny's worth $2,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DENN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Denny's by 63.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 828,571 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,041,000 after buying an additional 321,877 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Denny's by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,559,063 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,432,000 after buying an additional 267,694 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Denny's by 128.1% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 405,156 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,451,000 after buying an additional 227,544 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Denny's in the first quarter valued at about $688,000. Finally, Skylands Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Denny's by 30.8% in the first quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 745,620 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,736,000 after buying an additional 175,620 shares during the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Denny's Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ DENN traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $4.47. 580,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,033,385. The company has a market cap of $230.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 1.70. Denny's Corporation has a 12-month low of $2.85 and a 12-month high of $7.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4.11 and a 200 day moving average of $4.09.

Denny's (NASDAQ:DENN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The restaurant operator reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). Denny's had a negative return on equity of 59.51% and a net margin of 3.53%.The company had revenue of $117.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Denny's Corporation will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DENN shares. Piper Sandler set a $4.00 target price on shares of Denny's and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Denny's from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Denny's from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Denny's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $6.46.

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.