Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Cut to “Hold” at Benchmark

Benchmark lowered shares of Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on DENN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Denny’s in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler set a $4.00 target price on Denny’s and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Denny’s in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho raised Denny’s to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Denny’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.96.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Denny’s stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $6.11. 8,805,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,191,181. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.40. Denny’s has a twelve month low of $2.85 and a twelve month high of $7.66. The firm has a market cap of $314.66 million, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.60.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.03). Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 59.51% and a net margin of 3.53%.The company had revenue of $113.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Denny’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 202.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Denny’s will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Denny’s

In other news, insider Jumana Capital Investments Llc purchased 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.08 per share, with a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,524,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,461,612.40. This represents a 5.85% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders acquired a total of 433,307 shares of company stock valued at $1,945,837 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DENN. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Denny’s by 217.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Denny’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new position in Denny’s in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in shares of Denny’s during the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Denny’s during the third quarter worth $58,000. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.