Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Raised 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 released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on BLMN. Citigroup decreased 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Bloomin’ Brands stock traded down $1.63 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.15. The company had a trading volume of 5,143,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,485,407. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. Bloomin’ Brands has a 12-month low of $14.72 and a 12-month high of $30.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.42 and its 200-day moving average is $18.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.27 and a beta of 2.04.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Bloomin’ Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLMN. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6,454.9% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $111,000.

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.