Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 30,929 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 12.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 216,120 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 30,929 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $6,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLMN. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.8% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,250 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,026 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 17,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 39,057 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 683.2% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BLMN shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Bloomin’ Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.90.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

BLMN opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.03 and a 12-month high of $30.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 2.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.02.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 73.67% and a net margin of 5.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.94%.

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.