JPMorgan Chase & Co. Downgrades Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $100.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $67.00.

EAT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Brinker International from $69.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Brinker International from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Brinker International from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Brinker International from $72.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on shares of Brinker International from $94.00 to $97.00 in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.19.

Brinker International Price Performance

NYSE EAT opened at $102.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 2.51. Brinker International has a 52 week low of $32.90 and a 52 week high of $107.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.33.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Brinker International had a net margin of 4.11% and a negative return on equity of 839.19%. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Brinker International will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EAT. Boston Partners grew its position in Brinker International by 231.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,583,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,046 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Brinker International by 13,850.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,836 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Brinker International by 31.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 942,510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $68,228,000 after acquiring an additional 227,047 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Brinker International by 1,686.8% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,972 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,969,000 after acquiring an additional 182,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Brinker International by 1,160.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 192,268 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,918,000 after acquiring an additional 177,011 shares during the last quarter.

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.