BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.63.

BJRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Benchmark downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, August 29th.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJRI opened at $34.68 on Tuesday. BJ’s Restaurants has a one year low of $21.64 and a one year high of $38.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $30.84 and its 200-day moving average is $33.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $810.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. BJ’s Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,007. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RK Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $12,301,000 after acquiring an additional 12,500 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 106,054 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 92,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,319,000 after buying an additional 26,722 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Company Profile

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 under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ’s Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.