Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on DENN. Wedbush lowered their target price on Denny’s from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial lowered 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. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Denny’s in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased 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 note on Wednesday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $11.42.

Denny’s Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:DENN opened at $8.09 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.84 million, a PE ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.94. Denny’s has a 12-month low of $7.82 and a 12-month high of $12.53.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $109.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.17 million. Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 63.27% and a net margin of 5.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Denny’s by 20.7% in 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 bought a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Denny’s during the 4th quarter worth $136,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Denny’s by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 957,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,413,000 after acquiring an additional 141,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Denny’s by 126.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 2,536 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Denny’s Company Profile

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.