Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 178 Shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 178 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Brinker International were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 998,278 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,413,000 after purchasing an additional 8,105 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brinker International by 4.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 691,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,900,000 after buying an additional 28,373 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Brinker International during the fourth quarter valued at $81,888,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Brinker International by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 618,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,351,000 after buying an additional 219,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Brinker International by 2,612.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 588,594 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $77,865,000 after buying an additional 566,894 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Northcoast Research raised shares of Brinker International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded Brinker International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Brinker International from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Brinker International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Brinker International from $162.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brinker International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.18.

Brinker International Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Brinker International stock opened at $143.86 on Wednesday. Brinker International, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.37 and a fifty-two week high of $192.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 2.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $155.17 and a 200 day moving average of $120.60.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $1.43. Brinker International had a return on equity of 879.47% and a net margin of 5.45%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brinker International, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brinker International

In other news, COO Douglas N. Comings sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.10, for a total transaction of $1,253,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,752 shares in the company, valued at $4,470,259.20. This trade represents a 21.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Cindy L. Davis sold 5,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $1,089,963.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,086,561.02. This represents a 34.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,802 shares of company stock valued at $3,752,464 in the last three months. 1.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Brinker International

Brinker International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, development, operation, and franchising of casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates and franchises Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant brands.