Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

BLMN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands stock traded down $1.63 on Wednesday, hitting $15.15. 5,143,239 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,485,407. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.88. Bloomin’ Brands has a 52 week low of $14.72 and a 52 week high of $30.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.27 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 0.70% and a return on equity of 61.90%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. Bloomin’ Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 27,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 75,979 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares in the last quarter.

About Bloomin’ Brands

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.