Arizona State Retirement System Buys New Position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,698 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 11.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 7.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $32.36 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $27.61 and a one year high of $41.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $735.15 million, a PE ratio of 47.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.10.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.12. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. The company had revenue of $344.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $336.48 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.40.

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 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.