Short Interest in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Grows By 13.0%

Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,720,000 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the December 15th total of 7,720,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days. Currently, 10.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BLMN. StockNews.com raised Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Bloomin' Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bloomin' Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bloomin' Brands in the third quarter worth $26,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Bloomin' Brands by 79.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,371 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Bloomin' Brands by 606.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 4,198 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Bloomin' Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $169,000.

Bloomin' Brands Price Performance

BLMN traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $11.29. 1,532,423 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,609,642. Bloomin' Brands has a one year low of $11.03 and a one year high of $30.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $957.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -102.63 and a beta of 1.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46.

Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. Bloomin' Brands had a positive return on equity of 62.18% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Bloomin' Brands's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Bloomin' Brands will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Bloomin' Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -872.65%.

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.