Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) Lifted to Buy at Citigroup

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) was upgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, FinViz reports. The firm currently has a $7.50 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $7.00. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.81% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded Denny’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Denny’s from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Denny’s from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Denny’s in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Denny’s from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Denny’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.10.

Denny’s Trading Up 13.8 %

Denny’s stock opened at $6.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $325.64 million, a PE ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $6.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.95. Denny’s has a 52 week low of $5.37 and a 52 week high of $11.16.

Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $111.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.46 million. Denny’s had a negative return on equity of 48.06% and a net margin of 3.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Denny’s will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Denny’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Denny’s by 6.9% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,634,514 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,693,000 after purchasing an additional 558,964 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Denny’s by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,335,391 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,885,000 after acquiring an additional 89,465 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Denny’s by 14.1% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,258,827 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,938,000 after acquiring an additional 155,100 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Denny’s by 9.9% during the second quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 896,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,364,000 after purchasing an additional 80,587 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Denny’s by 1,487.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 531,530 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,774,000 after purchasing an additional 498,051 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

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.