Man Group plc Buys 152,500 Shares of Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Man Group plc boosted its stake in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Free Report) by 1,141.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,863 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 152,500 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.20% of Bloomin' Brands worth $2,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the fourth quarter worth $140,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 63,457.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 12,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 12,057 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BLMN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bloomin' Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.75.

Bloomin' Brands Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of BLMN traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $7.74. 468,362 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,058,632. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.34. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.09 and a 52 week high of $22.34. The company has a market cap of $657.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.25 and a beta of 1.30.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Bloomin' Brands had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 62.18%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bloomin' Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Bloomin' Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio is -2,000.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bloomin' Brands news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of Bloomin' Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total value of $79,497.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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.