Farther Finance Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 402.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,362 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 23,515 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 824.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 45,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 40,310 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,519,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,552,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 160.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 401,697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,905,000 after buying an additional 247,702 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on BLMN shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.75.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $8.96 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $760.97 million, a PE ratio of -298.57 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $6.09 and a one year high of $21.45.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a positive return on equity of 55.08% and a negative net margin of 0.05%. Bloomin’ Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -2,000.00%.

Bloomin’ Brands 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.