BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.80% and a return on equity of 6.56%. The firm had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $335.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $34.68 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12-month low of $21.64 and a 12-month high of $38.76. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.66. The firm has a market cap of $810.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 2.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $295,022.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $467,491.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at $82,659,692.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, 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. 4.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.