GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 40,310 Shares of Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

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

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,519,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Bloomin' Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in Bloomin' Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $1,552,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 160.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 401,697 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,905,000 after buying an additional 247,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,319 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 5,146 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Bloomin' Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Bloomin' Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.75.

Bloomin' Brands Stock Up 6.1%

BLMN stock traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.51. 3,367,530 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,138,381. The firm's 50-day moving average is $8.12 and its 200-day moving average is $9.70. The company has a market cap of $807.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -316.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.09 and a 12 month high of $21.45.

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

Bloomin' Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Bloomin' Brands's payout ratio is -2,000.00%.

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.