Candlestick Capital Management LP Invests $15.24 Million in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT)

Candlestick Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 115,199 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $15,240,000. Candlestick Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.26% of Brinker International at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Brinker International by 3,277.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 987,334 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $130,615,000 after buying an additional 958,101 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brinker International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,888,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Brinker International by 2,612.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 588,594 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $77,865,000 after buying an additional 566,894 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brinker International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,929,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Brinker International by 1,145.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 416,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $55,038,000 after buying an additional 382,633 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EAT. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $108.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Brinker International from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Brinker International from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brinker International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Brinker International from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brinker International currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.14.

Insider Activity at Brinker International

In other news, COO Douglas N. Comings sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.10, for a total transaction of $1,253,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,752 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,470,259.20. This represents a 21.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Cindy L. Davis sold 5,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $1,089,963.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,107 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,086,561.02. This trade represents a 34.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,802 shares of company stock valued at $3,752,464 over the last three months. 1.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Brinker International Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of Brinker International stock traded down $4.30 during trading on Thursday, reaching $130.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,300,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,484,868. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.33. Brinker International, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.29 and a fifty-two week high of $192.22. The firm's fifty day moving average is $147.70 and its 200-day moving average is $138.36. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 2.21.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Brinker International had a return on equity of 879.47% and a net margin of 5.45%. Brinker International's quarterly revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Brinker International, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

Brinker International Company Profile

Brinker International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, development, operation, and franchising of casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates and franchises Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant brands.