Northern Trust Corp Buys 46,422 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 840,099 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,422 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.99% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $10,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $140,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 63,457.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 12,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 12,057 shares in the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 2.7%

BLMN opened at $8.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.76. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.09 and a 1-year high of $23.50. The stock has a market cap of $748.24 million, a PE ratio of -80.08 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 62.18%. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.81%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -2,000.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bloomin’ Brands news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of Bloomin’ Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total value of $79,497.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLMN. StockNews.com raised shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

Bloomin’ Brands Company Profile

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc engages in the acquisition, operation, design, and development of restaurant concepts. It operates through the U.S. and International geographical segments. The U.S. segment operates in the USA and Puerto Rico. The International segment operates in Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China.