Short Interest in Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Grows By 8.5%

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,550,000 shares, a growth of 8.5% from the January 15th total of 10,650,000 shares. Approximately 13.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Bloomin’ Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLMN. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Xcel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 248,078 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,101,000 after purchasing an additional 40,225 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bloomin’ Brands by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 15,521 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,289 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $41,806,000 after purchasing an additional 147,895 shares during the period. Finally, Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in Bloomin’ Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of Bloomin’ Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised Bloomin’ Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Bloomin’ Brands in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $13.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.30.

Bloomin’ Brands Stock Up 3.4 %

BLMN stock opened at $11.48 on Tuesday. Bloomin’ Brands has a twelve month low of $10.85 and a twelve month high of $30.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.46. The stock has a market cap of $974.05 million, a P/E ratio of -104.09 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.56.

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.