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

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.43.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO C Bradford Richmond purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 302,152 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,485,000 after purchasing an additional 5,976 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,622 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,323 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $3,250,000. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $2,602,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BJRI opened at $35.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.27. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1 year low of $22.35 and a 1 year high of $38.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.34. The firm has a market cap of $838.75 million, a P/E ratio of 35.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.21. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $349.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.