BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Purchases 143,485 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. grew its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 457,704 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 143,485 shares during the quarter. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. owned about 0.53% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $8,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 257,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,254,000 after buying an additional 7,365 shares in the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 51.9% during the fourth quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 38,191 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 13,054 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,509,269 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $70,637,000 after buying an additional 104,368 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 768,963 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,464,000 after buying an additional 167,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $7,452,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLMN. StockNews.com downgraded Bloomin’ Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bloomin’ Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BLMN traded down $0.07 on Monday, hitting $17.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,249,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,492,046. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.76. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.20 and a 1 year high of $30.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.34 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 0.70% and a return on equity of 61.90%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is currently 150.00%.

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.