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

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on DENN. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Denny’s from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Denny’s in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.42.

Denny’s Stock Performance

NASDAQ DENN traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $8.09. The company had a trading volume of 750,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 522,270. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.70 and a 200-day moving average of $9.50. 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 price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.94.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced 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 firm 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 63.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In other news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total value of $327,070.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 740,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,850,790.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Denny’s

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Denny’s by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,309 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $136,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Denny’s by 17.4% in the fourth 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 stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,536 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.