New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Buys New Stake in Brinker International, Inc. $EAT

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new stake in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EAT. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Brinker International by 2.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,729,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,130,552,000 after purchasing an additional 145,525 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Brinker International by 3.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,748,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $293,786,000 after buying an additional 59,120 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Brinker International by 0.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,170,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $167,128,000 after buying an additional 9,692 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Brinker International in the 2nd quarter valued at $91,237,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 63.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 413,472 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,463,000 after buying an additional 160,939 shares during the period.

Brinker International Stock Performance

Shares of EAT opened at $200.37 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $204.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.37. Brinker International, Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.51 and a 1 year high of $254.99.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The restaurant operator reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.32. Brinker International had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 125.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Brinker International, Inc. will post 13.70 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on Brinker International from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Brinker International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Brinker International from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Brinker International from $190.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Brinker International from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brinker International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brinker International news, CEO Kevin Hochman sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.15, for a total transaction of $9,726,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,090 shares in the company, valued at $35,035,483.50. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Aaron White sold 16,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.22, for a total transaction of $3,831,488.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,099,822.32. This represents a 27.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 167,955 shares of company stock valued at $39,335,764 over the last ninety days. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Brinker International Profile

Brinker International, Inc. is a casual-dining restaurant company based in Dallas, Texas. It owns, operates and franchises restaurants under the Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy brands. Chili’s serves a broad menu of American and Tex-Mex-inspired dishes, including burgers, ribs and fajitas. Maggiano’s specializes in Italian-American cuisine, with dishes such as pasta and other classic entrées. The company traces its roots to 1975, when founder Norman Brinker opened the first Chili’s restaurant in Dallas.