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

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.20.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BJRI. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $43.93 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $971.56 million, a PE ratio of 64.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.58. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $45.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.70 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total value of $165,668.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,057,000 after purchasing an additional 48,455 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $291,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,013 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 103.2% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,269,000 after purchasing an additional 863,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $754,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.