Aurora Investment Counsel Acquires 7,188 Shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Aurora Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) by 52.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,815 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,188 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Bloomin’ Brands were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLMN. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 284,000.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 2,840 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 6,454.9% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 3,292 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Bloomin’ Brands in the second quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 5,014 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLMN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased 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 research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:BLMN opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.20 and a 12 month high of $30.13.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Bloomin’ Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.81%. Bloomin’ Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 150.00%.

Bloomin’ Brands Company Profile

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.