Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $15.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on DENN. StockNews.com upgraded Denny’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on Denny’s from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $11.42.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of Denny’s stock opened at $8.04 on Wednesday. Denny’s has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $12.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $426.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.94.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $109.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.17 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 5.27% and a negative return on equity of 66.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In other Denny’s news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total transaction of $327,070.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 740,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DENN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Denny’s by 20.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,309 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the fourth quarter worth $96,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Denny’s in the fourth quarter worth $136,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 957,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,413,000 after purchasing an additional 141,584 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Denny’s by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 2,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

About Denny’s

Denny's Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates franchised full-service restaurant chains under the Denny's and Keke's Breakfast Cafe brands in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc and changed its name to Denny's Corporation in July 2002.