Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 15.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,900 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLMN. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 6,454.9% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $219,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.80.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLMN opened at $15.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.99. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 60.50 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.14 and a 1-year high of $30.13.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

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.