BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading Up 9.5%

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) shot up 9.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $36.35 and last traded at $36.35. 89,884 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 391,595 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BJRI. Citigroup upped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $846.61 million, a P/E ratio of 43.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 2.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.97.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The business had revenue of $323.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.03 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares in the company, valued at $467,491.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at $82,659,692.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 4.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,351,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $103,777,000 after acquiring an additional 202,372 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.5% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,880,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $84,127,000 after purchasing an additional 94,775 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $60,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,763 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,200,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $38,163,000 after purchasing an additional 37,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 6.8% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 918,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,902,000 after acquiring an additional 58,723 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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