Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Purchases 63,299 Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 102.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,838 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,299 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned 0.54% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $4,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,351,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $103,777,000 after buying an additional 202,372 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,880,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $84,127,000 after purchasing an additional 94,775 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,162,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,883,000 after purchasing an additional 88,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 918,348 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,902,000 after purchasing an additional 58,723 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

BJRI stock opened at $32.10 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $751.14 million, a PE ratio of 38.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.64 and a 1-year high of $38.76.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $323.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.03 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.