Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.90.

BLMN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Bloomin’ Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Raymond James upped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,042,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,375,128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $68,119,000 after purchasing an additional 58,001 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 13,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,439,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 23,587 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares in the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of BLMN opened at $25.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.34. Bloomin’ Brands has a one year low of $22.03 and a one year high of $30.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 2.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.14.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 73.67% and a net margin of 5.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is 37.94%.

Bloomin’ Brands Company Profile

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.