Denny’s’ (DENN) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $8.50 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Denny’s from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Denny’s in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Denny’s from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $10.70.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DENN opened at $7.21 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.51. Denny’s has a fifty-two week low of $6.33 and a fifty-two week high of $11.91. The firm has a market cap of $375.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 2.01.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 63.27% and a net margin of 5.27%. The company had revenue of $109.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Denny’s’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Brenda J. Lauderback sold 11,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total value of $82,027.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,388.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Robert P. Verostek bought 10,000 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.53 per share, with a total value of $65,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 24,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,720. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Brenda J. Lauderback sold 11,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total transaction of $82,027.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,388.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Denny’s by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,273,187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,724,000 after buying an additional 108,758 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Denny’s by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 2,186 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management increased its stake in Denny’s by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 26,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Denny’s by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,093,427 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $88,056,000 after buying an additional 43,969 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Denny’s by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 98,668 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 5,645 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.