Short Interest in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Decreases By 30.2%

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,360,000 shares, a decline of 30.2% from the February 28th total of 10,540,000 shares. Currently, 8.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLMN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut Bloomin’ Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $18.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bloomin’ Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Down 8.0 %

BLMN opened at $7.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.96. Bloomin’ Brands has a fifty-two week low of $7.37 and a fifty-two week high of $29.10. The company has a market cap of $629.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.36 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Bloomin’ Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is -40.27%.

Insider Activity at Bloomin’ Brands

In related news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total transaction 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 owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 606.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 4,198 shares during the period.

About Bloomin’ Brands

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.