Short Interest in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Rises By 7.1%

Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,410,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 5,050,000 shares. Approximately 12.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Insider Activity at Brinker International

In other Brinker International news, CFO Michaela M. Ware sold 3,753 shares of Brinker International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $386,634.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,071 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,774.42. The trade was a 13.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brinker International

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Brinker International by 13,850.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,546,000 after buying an additional 1,049,836 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brinker International in the fourth quarter worth about $81,888,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Brinker International by 2,612.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 588,594 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $77,865,000 after acquiring an additional 566,894 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Brinker International by 1,145.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 416,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $55,038,000 after acquiring an additional 382,633 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Brinker International by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 942,510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $68,228,000 after purchasing an additional 227,047 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EAT shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $83.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Brinker International from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their target price on Brinker International from $94.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Brinker International from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Brinker International from $62.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Brinker International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.29.

Brinker International Stock Performance

EAT traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $144.17. 717,567 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 848,342. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.52. Brinker International has a 1-year low of $38.13 and a 1-year high of $147.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.54.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Brinker International had a negative return on equity of 839.19% and a net margin of 4.11%. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brinker International will post 5.91 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.