Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 36,783 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 5,431% compared to the typical daily volume of 665 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Price Performance

Shares of Bloomin’ Brands stock opened at $15.15 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.82. Bloomin’ Brands has a twelve month low of $14.72 and a twelve month high of $30.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.27 and a beta of 2.04.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 61.90% and a net margin of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,553,719 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,105,000 after acquiring an additional 16,878 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,529,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,806,000 after purchasing an additional 147,895 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bloomin’ Brands by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,492,119 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,923,000 after purchasing an additional 569,855 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new position in Bloomin’ Brands in the second quarter valued at about $28,672,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bloomin’ Brands by 4.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,411,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,327,000 after purchasing an additional 59,418 shares in the last quarter.

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.