Short Interest in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Increases By 13.0%

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,720,000 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the December 15th total of 7,720,000 shares. Currently, 10.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,850,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BLMN shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Bloomin’ Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.90.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:BLMN traded down $0.20 on Friday, reaching $11.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,532,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,609,642. 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’s fifty day moving average is $12.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.59. Bloomin’ Brands has a 12-month low of $11.03 and a 12-month high of $30.13.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 62.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands will post 1.8 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, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.50%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -872.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 356,456 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 29.4% during the 3rd 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 increased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 58.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 147,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,255,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,746,000 after acquiring an additional 70,925 shares during the last quarter.

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.