Investors Purchase High Volume of Bloomin' Brands Put Options (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 36,783 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 5,431% compared to the typical daily volume of 665 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America cut their target price on Bloomin' Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.33.

Bloomin' Brands Trading Down 9.7 %

Shares of BLMN stock traded down $1.63 on Friday, hitting $15.15. The stock had a trading volume of 5,142,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,485,407. The company's 50 day moving average price is $16.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.96. Bloomin' Brands has a 1 year low of $14.72 and a 1 year high of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.08 and a beta of 2.04.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Bloomin' Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bloomin' Brands will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Bloomin' Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLMN. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Bloomin' Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 75,979 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands during the first quarter worth about $225,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bloomin' Brands by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 249,477 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $7,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,794 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bloomin' Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $1,285,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Bloomin' Brands by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 200,446 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,749,000 after purchasing an additional 12,192 shares in the last quarter.

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.