Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Shares Sold by Quest Partners LLC

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,068 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 816 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Brinker International were worth $82,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EAT. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Brinker International during the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Brinker International by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Brinker International by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,253 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,653,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Brinker International by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 31,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,554,000 after buying an additional 6,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. lifted its holdings in Brinker International by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 8,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brinker International news, CFO Michaela M. Ware sold 3,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $386,634.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,071 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,774.42. This represents a 13.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EAT. Citigroup lifted their price target on Brinker International from $83.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Brinker International from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Brinker International from $76.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Brinker International from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Brinker International from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $67.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brinker International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.45.

Brinker International Stock Performance

Shares of EAT stock opened at $132.27 on Friday. Brinker International, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.60 and a 12-month high of $133.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.54, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.26. Brinker International had a negative return on equity of 839.19% and a net margin of 4.11%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Brinker International, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Brinker International Profile

Brinker International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, development, operation, and franchising of casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates and franchises Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant brands.