Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Takes Position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BJRI. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 12.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,438 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 13,172 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 13,617 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $69,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of BJRI stock opened at $38.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $816.23 million, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.96 and a 200-day moving average of $37.18. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.46 and a 12-month high of $47.02.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.05. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The business had revenue of $330.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) earnings per share. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

BJ’s Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 11.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BJRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho raised BJ’s Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research lowered BJ’s Restaurants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of BJ’s Restaurants 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 sale, the vice president owned 10,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,785.32. This trade represents a 14.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

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.