Analysts Set BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Target Price at $38.30

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.30.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BJRI shares. Benchmark raised their price objective 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, May 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $56,896.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,652 shares in the company, valued at $272,105.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,595,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $60,891,000 after acquiring an additional 8,763 shares during the last quarter. RK Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 341,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,301,000 after acquiring an additional 12,500 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,785,000 after buying an additional 4,163 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,716,000 after buying an additional 51,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 15.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,373,000 after buying an additional 37,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

BJRI stock opened at $35.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $822.04 million, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.46. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $21.64 and a 52 week high of $38.76.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $337.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.80% and a return on equity of 6.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.