Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 20,984 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,703,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 20,984 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $47,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 26,763 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 257,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,254,000 after acquiring an additional 7,365 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 105,770 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,977,000 after acquiring an additional 17,768 shares during the period. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 11,207 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 200,256 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,637,000 after acquiring an additional 49,398 shares during the period.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLMN opened at $25.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.34. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.03 and a 52-week high of $30.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a PEG ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 2.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.66 and its 200 day moving average is $26.18.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 73.67% and a net margin of 5.30%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is 37.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Bloomin’ Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Nine 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.90.

Bloomin’ Brands 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.