BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Price Target Raised to $36.00

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $33.00 to $36.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BJRI. Stephens reiterated 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. Citigroup raised their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $38.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 0.1 %

BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $34.64 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12 month low of $21.64 and a 12 month high of $38.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $809.88 million, a P/E ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 2.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.85.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $8,598,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 20,337 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,315 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 92,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after buying an additional 26,722 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% 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.