Brokerages Set BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Target Price at $38.30

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.30.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BJRI. Benchmark upped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $34.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.46. BJ’s Restaurants has a one year low of $21.64 and a one year high of $38.76. The firm has a market cap of $812.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 2.11.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $337.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $56,896.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,652 shares in the company, valued at $272,105.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,595,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $60,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,763 shares during the last quarter. RK Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 341,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,301,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,785,000 after buying an additional 4,163 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after buying an additional 51,364 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 15.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,373,000 after buying an additional 37,173 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.