Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 105,338 Shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 529,182 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 105,338 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.03% of Denny’s worth $3,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Denny’s by 95.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 5,970 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the third quarter worth about $83,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Denny’s by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,704 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 244.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 75,797 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Denny’s by 342.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 82,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 63,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DENN shares. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush lowered their target price on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In related news, CEO Kelli Valade bought 9,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.13 per share, with a total value of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn acquired 9,815 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 113,666 shares in the company, valued at $577,423.28. This represents a 9.45 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Stock Up 5.5 %

Shares of Denny’s stock opened at $4.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.92. Denny’s Co. has a twelve month low of $3.75 and a twelve month high of $9.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 2.08.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued 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 anticipate that Denny’s Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Denny’s Company 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.