BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $38.87 and last traded at $38.53, with a volume of 23173 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.57.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $881.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 2.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. This trade represents a 17.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 130,676 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,310,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,360,000 after acquiring an additional 114,008 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter worth $3,250,000. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,602,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.