GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Position in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Free Report) by 824.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,200 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 40,310 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.05% of Bloomin' Brands worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. A&I Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $343,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bloomin' Brands by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,414,415 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,270,000 after acquiring an additional 159,356 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 86.0% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,248 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,655,000 after acquiring an additional 176,240 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,407,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Bloomin' Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,882,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLMN shares. 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 research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Bloomin' Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.75.

Bloomin' Brands Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of BLMN traded down $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.91. 1,624,264 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,139,020. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.67. The stock has a market cap of $756.73 million, a PE ratio of -296.90 and a beta of 1.30. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.09 and a twelve month high of $21.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Bloomin' Brands had a negative net margin of 0.05% and a positive return on equity of 55.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Bloomin' Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bloomin' Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently -2,000.00%.

Bloomin' Brands Company 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.