Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Holdings Decreased by Centiva Capital LP

Centiva Capital LP lowered its stake in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) by 71.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,938 shares during the quarter. Centiva Capital LP’s holdings in Brinker International were worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EAT. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Brinker International by 97.5% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 36,335 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,807,000 after acquiring an additional 17,936 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Brinker International in the fourth quarter worth approximately $255,000. Caxton Associates LP boosted its stake in Brinker International by 372.2% during the 4th quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 18,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after purchasing an additional 14,564 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Brinker International during the 4th quarter valued at $82,408,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Brinker International by 214.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 138,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,345,000 after buying an additional 94,629 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EAT. Northcoast Research raised Brinker International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Brinker International from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brinker International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Brinker International from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brinker International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.14.

Brinker International Stock Performance

EAT stock opened at $137.09 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.45. Brinker International, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.27 and a 52 week high of $192.22. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.18. Brinker International had a net margin of 5.45% and a return on equity of 879.47%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Brinker International, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brinker International news, COO Douglas N. Comings sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.10, for a total value of $1,253,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,470,259.20. The trade was a 21.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ramona Hood sold 777 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.23, for a total value of $105,073.71. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,158,650.64. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.72% of the company’s stock.

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.