Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Upgraded to Buy by StockNews.com

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

DENN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. 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. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.92.

Denny’s Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Denny’s stock opened at $8.66 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.54. The stock has a market cap of $459.85 million, a PE ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.93. Denny’s has a 12-month low of $8.11 and a 12-month high of $12.53.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 70.78% and a net margin of 4.30%. The business had revenue of $115.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Denny’s

In other Denny’s 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 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 approximately $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new position in Denny’s during the 4th quarter worth $12,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Denny’s by 152.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,166,947 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,958,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,913 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Denny’s by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,407,016 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,959,000 after acquiring an additional 510,696 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the 1st quarter worth about $5,321,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in Denny’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,303,000. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.