First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 274,459 Shares of Denny's Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Denny's Co. (NASDAQ:DENN - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,665,680 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 274,459 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 3.25% of Denny's worth $10,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Denny's by 95.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Denny's in the third quarter valued at $83,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Denny's in the third quarter valued at $86,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Denny's by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,272 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Denny's in the third quarter valued at $193,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DENN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Denny's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Denny's from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Denny's from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Denny's from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Denny's from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.75.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Denny's news, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $5.08 per share, with a total value of $49,860.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 113,666 shares in the company, valued at $577,423.28. This trade represents a 9.45 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.13 per share, for a total transaction of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 192,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at $989,094.78. The trade was a 5.30 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457 over the last three months. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Denny's Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DENN remained flat at $3.94 during mid-day trading on Wednesday. 1,122,434 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,088. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.35 million, a PE ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 2.08. Denny's Co. has a 1-year low of $3.80 and a 1-year high of $9.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.03.

Denny's (NASDAQ:DENN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Denny's had a negative return on equity of 50.01% and a net margin of 4.77%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Denny's Co. will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.