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

Denny’s Co. (NASDAQ:DENN) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.75.

DENN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Denny’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush decreased their target price on Denny’s from $10.00 to $8.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Denny’s from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Insider Transactions at Denny’s

In related news, EVP Stephen C. Dunn purchased 9,815 shares of Denny’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $49,860.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $577,423.28. The trade was a 9.45 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kelli Valade purchased 9,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 trade represents a 5.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 20,465 shares of company stock valued at $104,457. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Denny’s

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Denny’s by 178.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Denny’s in the 4th quarter worth $61,000. RPO LLC purchased a new position in Denny’s during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Denny’s by 95.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Denny’s in the third quarter worth about $83,000. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Denny’s Trading Up 3.5 %

DENN stock opened at $3.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 2.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.87. Denny’s has a 12-month low of $3.61 and a 12-month high of $8.85.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS 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%. Equities analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Denny’s Company Profile

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.