Headlands Technologies LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 294.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,709 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,501 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLMN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 28.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,304 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 5,146 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 505.7% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 5,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 27.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 25,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 5,553 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BLMN. UBS Group cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $8.00 to $6.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays cut their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bloomin’ Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.00.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ BLMN opened at $6.68 on Wednesday. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.09 and a twelve month high of $18.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $568.27 million, a PE ratio of -133.60 and a beta of 1.32.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.05. Bloomin’ Brands had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Bloomin’ Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is presently -1,200.00%.

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.