236,060 Shares in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Purchased by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 236,060 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,882,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,381,150 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,830,000 after purchasing an additional 356,456 shares during the last quarter. A&I Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands during the fourth quarter worth $343,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 29.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 219,080 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after acquiring an additional 49,723 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 58.3% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 691,585 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,432,000 after acquiring an additional 254,570 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,414,415 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,270,000 after acquiring an additional 159,356 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total value of $79,497.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America downgraded Bloomin’ Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays set a $11.00 target price on Bloomin’ Brands and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.50.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 8.0 %

NASDAQ:BLMN opened at $7.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $629.34 million, a PE ratio of -67.36 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.44 and a 200 day moving average of $12.98. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.37 and a 1-year high of $29.10.

Bloomin’ Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is -40.27%.

About Bloomin’ Brands

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.