Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,869 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. $BLMN

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,668 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,869 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 8,666.6% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,253 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550,364 shares in the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,839,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,812,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,519,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 160.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $8.00 to $6.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bloomin’ Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $9.88.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $7.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $628.67 million, a PE ratio of -147.80 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.43. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.09 and a 52 week high of $18.72.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.69 million. Bloomin’ Brands had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 44.03%. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,200.00%.

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.