Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 50.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,845 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,666 shares during the period. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Bloomin’ Brands worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 120.9% in the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 89,662 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 49,081 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 204,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 42,110 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 4th quarter worth $356,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,024,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,510,000 after buying an additional 295,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BLMN shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Shares of BLMN stock opened at $7.93 on Thursday. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.72 and a 12-month high of $29.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46. The company has a market cap of $673.50 million, a PE ratio of -72.08 and a beta of 2.04.

Bloomin’ Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently -40.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bloomin’ Brands

In other Bloomin’ Brands news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total transaction of $79,497.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Bloomin’ Brands

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.