Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Short Interest Up 9.3% in August

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,420,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the August 15th total of 8,620,000 shares. Approximately 11.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,509,269 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $70,637,000 after acquiring an additional 104,368 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,313,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 218,191 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,142,000 after buying an additional 41,341 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,314 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 284,000.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840 shares during the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLMN traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.41. 547,811 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,472,202. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25 and a beta of 2.05. Bloomin’ Brands has a one year low of $15.20 and a one year high of $30.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.96.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.51%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Bloomin’ Brands’s payout ratio is 150.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on BLMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bloomin’ Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.33.

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.