Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN)

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DENN has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush dropped their target price on Denny’s from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Denny’s from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $10.40.

Denny’s Trading Down 6.0 %

Shares of DENN opened at $6.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $342.29 million, a P/E ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.01. Denny’s has a 12-month low of $6.33 and a 12-month high of $11.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $6.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.30.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $115.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.98 million. Denny’s had a net margin of 4.19% and a negative return on equity of 57.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In related news, CAO Jay C. Gilmore acquired 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.51 per share, with a total value of $78,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 121,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,187.77. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Denny’s news, CAO Jay C. Gilmore purchased 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.51 per share, with a total value of $78,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 121,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,187.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert P. Verostek purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.53 per share, with a total value of $65,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $156,720. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denny’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 726.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 3,239 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Denny’s in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the fourth quarter valued at $136,000. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the first quarter valued at $193,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

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.