Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 39.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,818,596 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,178,179 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 2.09% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $51,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,527,385 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $308,048,000 after acquiring an additional 175,493 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,707,000 after buying an additional 86,272 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 644,653 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,147,000 after buying an additional 39,270 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 520,451 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,798,000 after buying an additional 20,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 364.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 494,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,156,000 after buying an additional 387,896 shares in the last quarter.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of BLMN opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.03 and a 1-year high of $30.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.74 and a 200 day moving average of $26.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. Bloomin’ Brands had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 73.67%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.