Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Price

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its target price upped by Barclays from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BJRI. Piper Sandler increased their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.33.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $35.24 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.98. The stock has a market cap of $804.07 million, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. BJ’s Restaurants has a twelve month low of $27.61 and a twelve month high of $38.87.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,068.40. This represents a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 7.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,056,000 after buying an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently 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.