Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) Declares $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLMN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the restaurant operator on Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th.

Bloomin’ Brands has raised its dividend by an average of 68.7% per year over the last three years. Bloomin’ Brands has a dividend payout ratio of 36.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Bloomin’ Brands to earn $2.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.1%.

Bloomin’ Brands Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:BLMN traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.95. 1,543,951 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,485,369. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.26. Bloomin’ Brands has a 12-month low of $16.20 and a 12-month high of $30.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.96.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07). Bloomin’ Brands had a return on equity of 65.73% and a net margin of 1.56%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bloomin’ Brands will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Bloomin’ Brands from $26.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Bloomin’ Brands from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Bloomin’ Brands Company Profile

Bloomin' Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse.