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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $11.92.

Denny’s Stock Performance

DENN stock opened at $8.17 on Friday. Denny’s has a 52 week low of $8.00 and a 52 week high of $12.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.95 and its 200 day moving average is $9.51. The firm has a market cap of $433.83 million, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.93.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a net margin of 4.30% and a negative return on equity of 70.78%. The business had revenue of $115.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Denny’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.64 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Denny’s news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 740,626 shares in the company, valued at $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DENN. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Denny’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake 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 valued at $19,958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,913 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $12,959,000 after purchasing an additional 510,696 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Denny’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,321,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,303,000. 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.