Oppenheimer Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Stock Price

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Oppenheimer from $7.00 to $6.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 53.45% from the company’s current price.

DENN has been the subject of several other reports. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.46.

Denny’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DENN traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $3.91. 366,959 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 899,042. Denny’s has a one year low of $2.85 and a one year high of $8.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.27 million, a PE ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.63.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The restaurant operator reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.08. The company had revenue of $111.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.11 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 4.77% and a negative return on equity of 50.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Denny’s

In related news, CEO Kelli Valade bought 9,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.13 per share, with a total value of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at $989,094.78. This represents a 5.30 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $577,423.28. This represents a 9.45 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Denny’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Denny’s by 2,820.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,665,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,854 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,138,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,888,000 after acquiring an additional 568,266 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 63.5% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 828,571 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,041,000 after purchasing an additional 321,877 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Denny’s by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,665,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,077,000 after purchasing an additional 274,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Denny’s by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,559,063 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,432,000 after purchasing an additional 267,694 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.