Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Shares Purchased by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN - Free Report) by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 720,403 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 217,832 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned about 0.85% of Bloomin' Brands worth $11,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BLMN. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bloomin' Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Bloomin' Brands by 79.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,371 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Bloomin' Brands during the second quarter worth $111,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Bloomin' Brands in the second quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in Bloomin' Brands in the third quarter valued at $202,000.

Bloomin' Brands Price Performance

NASDAQ BLMN traded down $0.31 on Friday, hitting $13.94. 1,153,287 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,321,761. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.40 and a 200 day moving average of $17.60. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.26 and a twelve month high of $30.13.

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

Bloomin' Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Bloomin' Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -872.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BLMN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Raymond James lowered shares of Bloomin' Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bloomin' Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America cut their target price on Bloomin' Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bloomin' Brands from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.70.

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.