Raymond James & Associates Lowers Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN – Get Rating) by 45.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 293,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 244,318 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $5,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLMN. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,152,121 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $332,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,152 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,842,684 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $180,417,000 after purchasing an additional 291,981 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 171.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,626,195 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $123,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552,591 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,615,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $72,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,228,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $59,178,000 after purchasing an additional 136,714 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BLMN. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Bloomin’ Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $23.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, February 20th. Bank of America began coverage on Bloomin’ Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.55.

Insider Activity at Bloomin’ Brands

In related news, Director Elizabeth A. Smith sold 64,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $1,793,187.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 243,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,793,836.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

BLMN stock opened at $26.28 on Monday. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $15.89 and a one year high of $28.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.87.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The restaurant operator reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.09. Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 92.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.76%.

About Bloomin’ Brands

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Bloomin’ Brands, Inc engages in the acquisition, operation, design, and development of restaurant concepts. It operates through the U.S. and International geographical segments. The U.S. segment operates in the USA and Puerto Rico. The International segment operates in Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China.