BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $33.29 and traded as high as $34.71. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $34.57, with a volume of 260,267 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.43.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $808.35 million, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 272 Capital LP purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter worth $1,173,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after buying an additional 51,364 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $3,250,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $187,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,622 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,949,000 after acquiring an additional 8,323 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.