BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on BJRI. Barclays increased 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. 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 report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $38.60.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $36.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.63 and a 200-day moving average of $34.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $863.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 2.13. BJ’s Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $21.64 and a fifty-two week high of $38.76.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.17. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total transaction of $56,896.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,652 shares in the company, valued at $272,105.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter valued at about $311,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 91,570 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 26,474 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 166.3% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 65,454 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,536,000 after buying an additional 40,878 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 15.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,373,000 after acquiring an additional 37,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $60,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,763 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.