Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (BLMN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on June 4th

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the restaurant operator on Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th.

Bloomin’ Brands has a payout ratio of 47.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bloomin’ Brands to earn $1.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.1%.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Performance

Shares of BLMN stock opened at $8.81 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.76. The company has a market cap of $748.24 million, a P/E ratio of -80.08 and a beta of 1.30. Bloomin’ Brands has a 12 month low of $6.09 and a 12 month high of $23.50.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Bloomin’ Brands had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 62.18%. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Patrick M. Hafner sold 9,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.32, for a total transaction of $79,497.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 50.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 333,693 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,393,000 after buying an additional 111,801 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 156.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 591,373 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,240,000 after buying an additional 360,450 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 6.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 46,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 2,622 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 123.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,299,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,489,000 after buying an additional 1,268,988 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Bloomin’ Brands by 4.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,048,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,518,000 after buying an additional 43,329 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $13.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Bloomin’ Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $18.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

About Bloomin’ Brands

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc engages in the acquisition, operation, design, and development of restaurant concepts. It operates through the U.S. and International geographical segments. The U.S. segment operates in the USA and Puerto Rico. The International segment operates in Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China.