Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 272,822 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 51,927 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Brinker International were worth $20,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EAT. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Brinker International by 231.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,583,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,602,000 after buying an additional 1,106,046 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Brinker International by 13,850.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,836 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brinker International by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 942,510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $68,228,000 after purchasing an additional 227,047 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Brinker International by 1,686.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,972 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,969,000 after buying an additional 182,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Brinker International by 1,160.2% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 192,268 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,918,000 after buying an additional 177,011 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EAT. KeyCorp increased their target price on Brinker International from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Brinker International from $70.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Brinker International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Brinker International from $83.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Brinker International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.45.

Brinker International Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of EAT opened at $118.59 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $88.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.93. Brinker International, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.43 and a 12-month high of $123.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.54. The firm has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 2.46.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Brinker International had a net margin of 4.11% and a negative return on equity of 839.19%. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brinker International, Inc. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michaela M. Ware sold 3,753 shares of Brinker International stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $386,634.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,774.42. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Brinker International

Brinker International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, development, operation, and franchising of casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates and franchises Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant brands.