Public Sector Pension Investment Board Sells 3,500 Shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board reduced its holdings in shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 94,428 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,500 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.21% of Brinker International worth $7,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EAT. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brinker International during the first quarter valued at approximately $714,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Brinker International during the 3rd quarter worth $5,330,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Brinker International by 399.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,102 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 19,281 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,822 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,879,000 after buying an additional 51,927 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 1,686.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,972 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,969,000 after buying an additional 182,172 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on EAT shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Brinker International from $83.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Brinker International from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $80.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James downgraded shares of Brinker International from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $76.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Brinker International from $70.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.45.

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 on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $386,634.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brinker International Price Performance

NYSE EAT opened at $132.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.54, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.60. Brinker International, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.60 and a 1 year high of $133.82.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brinker International, Inc. will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Brinker International Company 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.