Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the June 30th total of 7,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days. Approximately 9.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bloomin’ Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin’ Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Bloomin’ Brands during the first quarter worth about $30,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 284,000.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6,454.9% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 5,014 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,314 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

NASDAQ BLMN traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $20.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,155,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,468,450. Bloomin’ Brands has a fifty-two week low of $16.20 and a fifty-two week high of $30.13. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.44 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.15.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.05). Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 65.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

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.