Traders Purchase Large Volume of Denny’s Call Options (NASDAQ:DENN)

Denny’s Corporation (NASDAQ:DENN) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 6,610 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 662% compared to the typical volume of 868 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jumana Capital Investments Llc bought 9,347 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.14 per share, with a total value of $48,043.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,804,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,557,031.80. This trade represents a 0.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders acquired 183,307 shares of company stock valued at $925,837 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Denny’s by 56.7% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,951,187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430,102 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Denny’s by 63.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Monimus Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Denny’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,307,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its holdings in Denny’s by 1,196.7% during the 2nd quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 272,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 251,300 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,561,053 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after purchasing an additional 218,019 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Shares of DENN stock opened at $5.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $265.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 1.63. Denny’s has a 52 week low of $2.85 and a 52 week high of $7.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.23.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The restaurant operator reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $117.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.14 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 3.53% and a negative return on equity of 59.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DENN. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Denny’s from $8.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Denny’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Denny’s and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Denny’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.