Wedbush Lowers Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Price Target to $9.50

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) had its price target trimmed by Wedbush from $10.50 to $9.50 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DENN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Denny’s from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Denny’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Denny’s presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $11.75.

Denny’s Stock Performance

Shares of Denny’s stock opened at $8.21 on Friday. Denny’s has a 52-week low of $8.00 and a 52-week high of $12.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $435.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.79 and a 200-day moving average of $9.52.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.67 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Denny’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Denny’s will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Denny’s news, Director John C. Miller sold 35,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 740,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,850,790.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Denny’s by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 815,485 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,907,000 after acquiring an additional 247,470 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Denny’s in the 3rd quarter worth about $495,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in shares of Denny’s by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 431,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,697,000 after acquiring an additional 211,000 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Denny’s by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,545,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,094,000 after acquiring an additional 228,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,186 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.