Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) Stock Rating Lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Brinker International (NYSE:EAT - Free Report) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $100.00 price target on the restaurant operator's stock, up from their previous price target of $67.00.

EAT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their target price on shares of Brinker International from $94.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Brinker International from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Brinker International from $70.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Brinker International from $72.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Brinker International from $69.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $84.19.

Brinker International Trading Down 1.5 %

EAT stock traded down $1.54 during trading on Thursday, hitting $102.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,317,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,455,688. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 2.51. Brinker International has a 52-week low of $32.90 and a 52-week high of $107.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.96.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Brinker International had a net margin of 3.52% and a negative return on equity of 274.62%. The firm's revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Brinker International will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Brinker International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Brinker International during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $714,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 279,974 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $13,908,000 after purchasing an additional 75,225 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,535,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $275,004,000 after purchasing an additional 135,580 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 231.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,583,239 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $78,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 1,686.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,972 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $13,969,000 after purchasing an additional 182,172 shares in the last quarter.

About Brinker International

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.