Short Interest in Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Drops By 7.3%

Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) saw a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,900,000 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the September 15th total of 7,440,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 15.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Brinker International from $69.00 to $83.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. KeyCorp raised shares of Brinker International from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Brinker International from $69.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brinker International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.09.

Brinker International Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of EAT stock opened at $89.29 on Friday. Brinker International has a 12-month low of $31.95 and a 12-month high of $91.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 2.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.96.

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). Brinker International had a negative return on equity of 274.62% and a net margin of 3.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Brinker International will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brinker International

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 231.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,583,239 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,046 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Brinker International by 13,850.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,836 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brinker International by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 942,510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $68,228,000 after purchasing an additional 227,047 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Brinker International by 1,686.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 192,972 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,969,000 after purchasing an additional 182,172 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Brinker International by 1,160.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 192,268 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,918,000 after purchasing an additional 177,011 shares in 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.