Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $13.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Bloomin’ Brands traded as low as $11.24 and last traded at $11.42, with a volume of 129665 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.87.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on BLMN. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $13.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLMN. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 256,123 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,925,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 1,693.0% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 18,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 17,810 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 219,002 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,988 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 92,733 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,752 shares during the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46. The company has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a PE ratio of -107.44 and a beta of 1.97.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. 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.