Boston Partners Grows Stake in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Boston Partners raised its holdings in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Free Report) by 27.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 768,963 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 167,441 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.89% of Bloomin' Brands worth $21,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bloomin' Brands by 683.2% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin' Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,026 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Bloomin' Brands by 221.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,147 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $206,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLMN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Bloomin' Brands from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.50.

Bloomin' Brands Stock Performance

Shares of BLMN stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $24.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,411,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,351,702. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.03 and a twelve month high of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 2.02. The stock's 50 day moving average is $26.87 and its 200 day moving average is $26.17.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.05). Bloomin' Brands had a return on equity of 65.73% and a net margin of 1.56%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Bloomin' Brands's revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bloomin' Brands, Inc. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin' Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 150.00%.

About Bloomin' Brands

Bloomin' Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse.