Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Cut to “Underperform” at Bank of America

Bank of America lowered shares of Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $13.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $18.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “sell” rating and a $13.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com cut Bloomin’ Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.30.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLMN opened at $12.70 on Monday. Bloomin’ Brands has a fifty-two week low of $11.03 and a fifty-two week high of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -115.44 and a beta of 1.97.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a positive return on equity of 62.18% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bloomin’ Brands will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLMN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 0.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,553,719 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,878 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,529,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,806,000 after buying an additional 147,895 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,325,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,411,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,327,000 after acquiring an additional 59,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 34.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,381,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,830,000 after acquiring an additional 356,456 shares during the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Company Profile

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.