Benchmark Reaffirms Buy Rating for Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN)

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

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush reduced their target price on Denny’s from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Denny’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $11.42.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DENN opened at $8.09 on Wednesday. Denny’s has a 1 year low of $7.82 and a 1 year high of $12.53. The company has a market cap of $420.84 million, a PE ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.72 and its 200 day moving average is $9.50.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a net margin of 5.27% and a negative return on equity of 63.27%. The business had revenue of $109.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In other news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total value of $327,070.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 740,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Denny’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DENN. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Denny’s by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,403 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,843 shares in the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC lifted its position in Denny’s by 194.0% in the 3rd quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 94,075 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 62,075 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Denny’s by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,049,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $68,179,000 after acquiring an additional 296,554 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Denny’s by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 235,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after acquiring an additional 13,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Denny’s by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 31,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 10,340 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.