BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on BJRI. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Benchmark upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.67.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $31.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1-year low of $28.92 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.03 and a 200 day moving average of $37.67. The firm has a market cap of $687.27 million, a PE ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The business had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total value of $62,023.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,785.32. This represents a 14.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at $252,611.84. This represents a 36.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 824,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,777,000 after acquiring an additional 51,062 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 233.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 628,445 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,029,000 after acquiring an additional 440,078 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% during the second quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 593,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,469,000 after acquiring an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 5.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 523,687 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $23,359,000 after purchasing an additional 25,892 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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 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.