Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BLMN. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $16.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.35 and a beta of 2.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.98. Bloomin’ Brands has a 52-week low of $15.14 and a 52-week high of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 0.70% and a return on equity of 61.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLMN. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 219.2% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,187,000 after acquiring an additional 113,798 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 29.6% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,492,119 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,923,000 after purchasing an additional 569,855 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the second quarter worth $563,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the second quarter worth $711,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $1,285,000.

About Bloomin’ Brands

Bloomin' Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse.