Maverick Capital Ltd. Grows Stake in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 420.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 103,427 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,569 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. owned about 0.12% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $1,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rye Brook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Rye Brook Capital LLC now owns 247,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,104,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.6% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 27,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 5,014 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 75,979 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the first quarter valued at about $30,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays reduced their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $30.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Up 2.4 %

Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $16.93 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45 and a beta of 2.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.39. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $15.20 and a one year high of $30.13.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.67%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 150.00%.

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.