Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 147,895 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,529,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 147,895 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 2.98% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $41,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 50,007 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $773,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 29.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 219,080 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,621,000 after acquiring an additional 49,723 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $500,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 22.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,574 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP grew its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 14.6% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 624,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,323,000 after purchasing an additional 79,758 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BLMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James lowered shares of Bloomin’ Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “sell” rating and a $13.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.09.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of BLMN stock opened at $11.46 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.55. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.24 and a 1-year high of $30.13. The company has a market cap of $972.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -104.17 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a positive return on equity of 62.18% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.38%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently -872.73%.

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.