Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $13.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Bloomin’ Brands traded as low as $11.24 and last traded at $11.42, with a volume of 129665 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.87.

BLMN has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com raised Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James downgraded Bloomin’ Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “sell” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $13.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,553,719 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,878 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,529,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,806,000 after purchasing an additional 147,895 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,325,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,672,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,411,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $23,327,000 after purchasing an additional 59,418 shares in the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a PE ratio of -107.44 and a beta of 1.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $13.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a positive return on equity of 62.18% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. Bloomin’ Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -872.73%.

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.