BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Buys 50,000 Shares of Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. raised its position in shares of Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 332,060 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 50,000 shares during the quarter. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. owned about 0.39% of Bloomin' Brands worth $4,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLMN. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Bloomin' Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Bloomin' Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bloomin' Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 606.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 4,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $140,000.

Insider Transactions at Bloomin' Brands

In related news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total value of $79,497.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Bloomin' Brands Stock Performance

BLMN traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $7.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,934,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,998,881. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $7.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.12. The firm has a market cap of $611.50 million, a PE ratio of -65.45 and a beta of 1.30. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $6.09 and a one year high of $24.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Bloomin' Brands had a positive return on equity of 62.18% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. Bloomin' Brands's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bloomin' Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin' Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently -40.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLMN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America cut Bloomin' Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bloomin' Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.75.

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.