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

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.57.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at $190,068.40. This trade represents a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,056,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 10.4% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 131,876 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,294,000 after buying an additional 12,432 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth about $440,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $35.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $818.78 million, a PE ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12-month low of $27.61 and a 12-month high of $38.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.64 and a 200 day moving average of $33.89.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS 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.