Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.75.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DENN. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Insider Activity at Denny’s

In other news, CEO Kelli Valade bought 9,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $5.13 per share, for a total transaction of $49,761.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,094.78. This represents a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen C. Dunn bought 9,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $49,860.20. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 113,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $577,423.28. This trade represents a 9.45 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 20,465 shares of company stock worth $104,457 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denny’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in Denny’s by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 37,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Denny’s by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,408 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Denny’s by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 218,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Denny’s by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,175,986 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Denny’s by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 759,837 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,597,000 after purchasing an additional 3,538 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Denny’s Price Performance

Shares of Denny’s stock opened at $4.16 on Friday. Denny’s has a fifty-two week low of $4.00 and a fifty-two week high of $9.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.70 million, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 2.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.16.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Denny’s had a net margin of 4.77% and a negative return on equity of 50.01%. On average, analysts expect that Denny’s will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

About Denny’s

Denny’s Corp. engages in the operation of restaurants and franchised, and licensed restaurants. It operates through the Denny’s and Other segments. The Denny’s segment includes the results of all company and franchised and licensed Denny’s restaurants. The Other segment refers to the results of all company and franchise restaurants.